Wednesday, July 02, 2014

LaborFest film showing

www. laborfest.net

“Bloody Ihursday” July
5 commemorates the police murder of maritime workers in the 1934 Big Strike
which provoked the San Francisco General Strike. All U.S. West Coast ports are
shutdown to honor the six labor martyrs killed during the strike.

In 2012, at the
Marikana mine in South Africa, 34 striking miners were massacred by police.
ILWU Local 10 sent a letter of protest to the ANC-led government. Andrew
Chirwa, president of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa
(NUMSA), the largest union in that country will address workers about the
massacre and the miners strike, the longest in South African history and the
impending metalworkers strike.

On July 1, both the
South African metalworkers union and the ILWU longshore contracts expire. NUMSA
is preparing for a “full-blown strike” much like the maritime workers did in
1934. Now is the time for international labor solidarity.

The
Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal invites you to attend
these two events, focussed on police attacks on striking workers under
the ANC government in South Africa, and on Numsa, the metalworkers union
currently on strike there.

NOTE: We previously
announced the appearance of Numsa President Andrew Chirwa as a speaker
at the film showing on Saturday. Unfortunately, Chirwa will be unable to
come to the US at this time, due to developments in the strike. The
union leadership has expressed its regrets. However, an interview with
Chirwa has been arranged via Skype. This will take place at the second
event--see below.

Despite this cancelation, you will not regret your attendance at these events!

The
National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa), the largest
union in South Africa is now on strike for higher wages. Numsa workers
have already been shot at by police using rubber bullets, and Moody’s
threatens that SA bonds will turn to “junk”. But the ANC government is
on the defensive in this massive strike by 220,000 militant workers!

In
the wake of the Marikana massacre, NUMSA broke with the anti-worker ANC
government, which includes the South African Communist Party (SACP),
along with one of the Lonmin mine owners responsible for the massacre in
2012. The politics of the strike go deep, as Numsa has been calling for
a working-class united-front and for socialism, and recruiting members
from pro-ANC unions.

NUMSA has also signed onto solidarity statements for US political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal.

We hope to see you there!

Organized
by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

www.transportworkers.org

Solidarity
Has No Borders!

For
more information: (510) 501-7080, (415) 282-1908

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Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

A year ago on July 8th, over 30,000
people on the inside began a hunger strike to bring an end to
California’s use of indefinite solitary confinement.

Whether
you're in the Bay Area, Eureka, Santa Cruz or Southern California,
please join us as we hold statewide events commemorating the courage of
the hunger strikers and push forward to bring an end to the torture of
solitary confinement and meet the five core demands.Oakland:

President Obama
will ask Congress to provide more than $2 billion in new funds to
control the surge of illegal Central American migrants at the South
Texas border, and to grant broader powers for immigration officials to
speed deportations of children caught crossing without their parents,
White House officials said on Saturday.

Mr. Obama will send a
letter on Monday to alert Congress that he will seek an emergency
appropriation for rapidly expanding border enforcement actions and
humanitarian assistance programs to cope with the influx, which includes
record numbers of unaccompanied minors and adults bringing children.
The officials gave only a general estimate of the amount, saying the
White House would send a detailed request for the funds when Congress
returned after the Fourth of July recess that began Friday and ends July
7.The president will also ask Congress to revise existing statutes to
give the Homeland Security secretary, Jeh Johnson, new authorities to
accelerate the screening and deportation of young unaccompanied migrants
who are not from Mexico. Fast-track procedures are already in place to
deport young migrants from Mexico because it shares a border with the
United States.

Mr. Obama will also ask for tougher penalties for
smugglers who bring children and other vulnerable migrants across the
border illegally, the officials said.

“This is an urgent
humanitarian situation,” Cecilia Muñoz, the director of the White House
Domestic Policy Council, said in a telephone interview on Saturday. “We
are being as aggressive as we can be, on both sides of the border,” she
said. “We are dealing with smuggling networks that are exploiting
people, and with the humanitarian treatment of migrants while also
applying the law as appropriate.”

After the president declared a
humanitarian crisis in early June, federal emergency management
officials have been coordinating with the many federal agencies involved
in finding detention shelters for the unaccompanied youths and in
stepping up enforcement measures to deter more migrants from coming.

“The
uptick in activity at the border and the steps the administration has
put in place are extraordinary,” a White House official said. “We are
maxing out our capacities within the existing appropriated monies.”

Federal
officials have opened shelters to detain unaccompanied children at
three military bases and are seeking facilities for other shelters.
Border authorities are required to turn over unaccompanied minors within
72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees
the shelters and seeks to locate family members in this country who can
receive the youths.

While many unaccompanied children may
qualify for some legal status here, many others would not. Authorities
want to eliminate delays in deporting children determined to have no
legal option to stay, the White House officials said.

On Thursday, Mr. Obama directed tough comments to Central American parents
in an interview on ABC News. “Do not send your children to the
borders,” the president said. “If they do make it, they’ll get sent
back. More importantly, they may not make it.”

White House
officials said they were not asking Congress to change other existing
legal protections for children apprehended without their parents. The
administration is working with the governments of the three countries
that are home to most of the migrants — El Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras — to ensure the children are safe once they are returned, the
officials said.

Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose
district includes a long stretch of the South Texas border, on Saturday
visited about 1,000 migrants detained at the Border Patrol station in
McAllen. He urged Congress to approve quick changes to laws on the
handling of unaccompanied minors.

“When it’s Central American
countries, there is a different process,” Mr. Cuellar said. “One of the
things we need to do is tweak the law, to give Border Patrol the power
to treat anybody the same as we treat Mexicans.”

The influx in
the Rio Grande Valley has also included many families, especially women
with children. To discourage more families from embarking on the dangerous journey across Mexico, the administration is detaining more of them after they are caught.

House
Republican leaders chastised the president last week, saying his lax
enforcement of immigration laws had unleashed the flow. “Word has spread
to the Americas and beyond that the Obama administration has taken
unprecedented and most likely unconstitutional steps to shut down the
enforcement of our immigration laws,” Representative Robert W.
Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said at a hearing.
“It seems that Obama fiddles while our borders implode.”

Mr. Goodlatte said he would work with the White House to strengthen the administration’s enforcement powers.

The
new proposals to deal with the border came as immigrant rights groups
signaled in more than 40 coordinated protests in 23 states during the
weekend that they were still hoping for action by the president to slow
the pace of deportations.

The demonstrations were small, but
fervent. In Chicago, a rally by activists on Friday in front of the
offices of the federal immigration enforcement agency included a mock
trial of Mr. Obama, who was accused of engaging in harsh deportations.
On Saturday, protesters marched through the Boston Common, and in
Detroit, they rallied in front of the federal building.

You
begin your book “High Price” with a story about an experiment you did.
You offered a crack addict a hit or $5. He chose the cash. Why did you
lead with this? We have rigorous science to support that crack
cocaine is not as addictive as people think and that they have been
hoodwinked. I was hoping people would want to read further if they had a
myth busted right up front.

How do you think Hollywood plays into our perceptions about drugs and addiction?
It’s not only Hollywood. One of Public Enemy’s bigger songs, “Night of
the Living Baseheads,” is all about this crack addict who’s just
fiending. Public Enemy did so many good things, but on that song, they
were wrong. And “New Jack City” is on TV, like, every week. Remember
“New Jack City”?

Yes, the movie about a drug kingpin who turns an apartment complex into a crack factory.
Again, the filmmakers were trying to help their community, but the
problem was that crack wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was
unemployment, lack of education, lack of skills. Politicians are happy
not to have to focus on those larger issues. You can just focus on crack
cocaine, put more cops on the street and make tougher laws.

Your book dispels lots of myths — but does meth really not mess up your face?
No, we think that because of great marketing. They show very
unattractive people who have had a hard day’s night, if you will, and
they say that’s a result of methamphetamine. That’s not true. It’s a
result of people being unattractive before they start using
methamphetamines or poor hygiene.

Did you watch “Breaking Bad”?
Yeah, it’s one of my favorite TV shows, along with “The Wire.” I love
all those shows, but they’re not reality; they’re just like “New Jack
City.”

You used to experiment on rats. Why did you decide that you needed to experiment on people?
I did most of my Ph.D. in Washington. They used to bring black kids
through the lab for tours, and I was one of the few black researchers.
They had questions about drugs like, Why is my sibling or parent
addicted to cocaine? I couldn’t tell them much about human drug
addiction, but I could tell them a lot about what goes on with rats.

Do politicians really benefit from portraying drugs as the root of all evil? As
a politician, you can use “crack cocaine” as a code word and say you’re
going after it, but you’re actually going after people we don’t really
like in our society. Law enforcement benefited because their budgets
were hugely increased. Treatment providers benefited because it’s either
jail or treatment, so they got the overflow. Researchers, people like
me, benefited. So many people benefited from this.What would you say to
the Nancy Reagans of the world? Probably nothing. Those people are so
detached. I mean, really, they are clueless. If politicians did care
about their constituents, they would work harder to seek out people like
me. They don’t.

You teach a survey class on drugs and behavior at Columbia. I bet that’s popular with undergrads. Yeah.
I’ve been teaching this class for more than 10 years now, and when I
first started teaching, my students were shocked at what I was telling
them. Now they’re further to the left, if you will — I have to rein them
in and remind them that these things are potentially powerful
psychological compounds.

I’ve read a lot recently about women losing their children for using marijuana. Is this a new phenomenon?
I don’t know how new this is, but this is starting to come to the
public’s attention. In Brooklyn, for example, you go to the family
courtroom on any day, you can see parents losing their children for
marijuana. They’re poor women, they’re minorities primarily. It’s a
continuation of the “war on drugs,” but now specifically targeting
women.

It’s hard to imagine a mother in TriBeCa losing her kids for smoking a little weed. That’s right. That does not happen.

The Supreme Court’s deeply dismaying decision
on Monday in the Hobby Lobby case swept aside accepted principles of
corporate law and religious liberty to grant owners of closely held,
for-profit companies an unprecedented right to impose their religious
views on employees.

It was the first time the court has allowed
commercial business owners to deny employees a federal benefit to which
they are entitled by law based on the owners’ religious beliefs, and it
was a radical departure from the court’s history of resisting claims for
religious exemptions from neutral laws of general applicability when
the exemptions would hurt other people.

The full implications of the decision,
which ruled in favor of employers who do not want to include
contraceptive care in their company health plans, as required by the
Affordable Care Act, will not be known for some time. But the immediate
effect, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in a powerful dissent, was
to deny many thousands of women contraceptive coverage vital to their
well-being and reproductive freedom. It also invites, she said, other
“for-profit entities to seek religion-based exemptions from regulations
they deem offensive to their faiths.”

The case involved
challenges by two companies, Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts
stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a cabinet maker, to the
perfectly reasonable requirement that employer health plans cover
(without a co-payment) all birth control methods and services approved
by the Food and Drug Administration. The main battleground was the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which says government may not
“substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion” unless the
burden is necessary to further a “compelling government interest” and
achieves it by “the least restrictive means.”

As a threshold
matter, Justice Samuel Alito Jr., read the act’s religious protections
to apply to “the humans who own and control” closely held companies, an
interpretation contradicted by the statute’s history, context, and
wording. He then found that the contraceptive coverage rules put a
“substantial burden” on the religious owners, who objected to some of
the items on the F.D.A.’s list based on the incorrect claim they induce
abortions.

It’s hard to see that burden. Nothing in the
contraceptive coverage rule prevented the companies’ owners from
worshiping as they choose or advocating against coverage and use of the
contraceptives they don’t like.Nothing compels women to use their
insurance on contraceptives. A woman’s choice to use or not to use them
is a personal one that does not implicate her employer. Such decisions
“will be the woman’s autonomous choice, informed by the physician she
consults,” as Justice Ginsburg noted. There also is no requirement that
employers offer employee health plans. They could instead pay a tax
likely to be less than the cost of providing insurance to help cover
government subsidies available to those using an insurance exchange.
That did not convince Justice Alito and his colleagues on the court’s
right flank, who bought the plaintiffs’ claim that providing health
coverage to employees was part of their religious mission.

The
majority’s finding that the government’s contraception coverage rules
were not the “least restrictive” way to carry out the broad and complex
health reform was also unpersuasive.

Mr. Alito’s ruling and a
concurrence by Justice Anthony Kennedy portray the decision as a narrow
one without broader application, like denying vaccine coverage or job
discrimination. But that is not reassuring coming from justices who
missed the point that denying women access to full health benefits is
discrimination.

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4) Pretrial Detention Extended for Egyptians Who Protested Ban on Protests
By ROBERT MACKEY

Nearly two dozen Egyptian activists, arrested at a protest march on June 21, will remain in pretrial detention until Sept. 13, a judge ruled on Sunday, the news site Aswat Masriya reported.

The 23 opposition activists were detained after their rally against a new law banning unsanctioned protests was attacked with rocks and bottles hurled by a group of men in civilian clothes who seemed to arrive with the police.

Ms. Seif’s cousin Omar Robert Hamilton shared a photograph of those two women behind bars in the courtroom on Sunday in a makeshift courtroom in Tora Prison in Cairo.

Several
commentators noted that the protesters were in court, charged with
violating a ban on protests, on the eve of the first anniversary of the
massive street protests that brought the current military-backed
government to power.

In a text account of the court session,
Mr. Hamilton explained that the hearing had been moved at the last
minute from another part of Cairo to a site under the control of the
Interior Ministry. “Families of the detainees were not allowed in,” he
added, “and it was a significant struggle for even lawyers and
journalists to gain access.”

According to Lina Attalah, a reporter for the independent news site Mada Masr, as the detainees were led into the courtroom, the women sang, “We have told the oppressor before, freedom is coming for sure.”

After
abruptly terminating the hearing, Ms. Attalah reported, the judge left
the courtroom and the 23 defendants were only informed later that,
rather than being released on bail, they would be held until their next
court date in mid-September. The same judge also sentenced another group
of defendants to five years in prison for violating the law banning
protests.

On Saturday, another activist detained for taking part in an unsanctioned protest, Mahienour al-Massry, led defiant chants from behind bars in a courtroom in Alexandria, where she is appealing against a two-year jail term.

As Louisa Loveluck reported for The Guardian, a striking image
of the young Alexandrian activist, looking out from the caged dock in
white prison clothes, circulated on social networks after the hearing.

SANTIAGO,
Chile — The United States military intelligence services played a
pivotal role in setting up the murders of two American citizens in 1973,
providing the Chilean military with the information that led to their
deaths, a court here has ruled.

The recent court decision found
that an American naval officer, Ray E. Davis, alerted Chilean officials
to the activities of two Americans, Charles Horman, 31, a filmmaker, and
Frank Teruggi, 24, a student and an antiwar activist, which led to
their arrests and executions.

The murders were part of an
American-supported coup that ousted the leftist government of President
Salvador Allende. The killing of the two men was portrayed in the 1982
film “Missing.”

The ruling by the judge, Jorge Zepeda, now
establishes the involvement of American intelligence officials in
providing information to their Chilean counterparts. He also charged a
retired Chilean colonel, Pedro Espinoza, with the murders, and a
civilian counterintelligence agent, Rafael González, as an accomplice in
Mr. Horman’s murder.

The two men, along with Mr. Davis, were indicted in 2011. Mr. Davis, who died in 2013, was commander of the United States Military Group in Chile.

“The
judge’s decision makes clear,” said Janis Teruggi Page, Mr. Teruggi’s
sister, “that U.S. intelligence personnel who aided and abetted the
Chilean military after the coup remain a co-conspirator in this horrible
crime.”

The latest ruling concludes that Mr. Davis provided his
Chilean liaison, Raúl Monsalve, a naval intelligence officer, with
information on both Mr. Horman and Mr. Teruggi based on F.B.I. and other
United States intelligence, compiled for an investigation into
suspicions that the men were engaged in subversive activities. Mr.
Monsalve, now dead, passed on this information to the Intelligence
Department of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which ordered the men’s
arrests.

The decision said the murders were part of “a secret
United States information-gathering operation carried out by the U.S.
Milgroup in Chile on the political activities of American citizens in
the United States and in Chile.”

Sergio Corvalán, a lawyer for the families of the two slain men, said the ruling confirmed what the families had long believed.

“The
Chilean military would not have acted against them on their own,” Mr.
Corvalán said. “They didn’t have any particular interest in Horman or
Teruggi, or evidence of any compromising political activity that would
make them targets of Chilean intelligence agencies.”

In
a decision with far-reaching implications for the future of natural gas
drilling in New York State, its highest court ruled on Monday that
towns can use zoning ordinances to ban hydraulic fracturing, the
controversial extraction method known as fracking.

Since the
issue arose about six years ago, there has been a statewide moratorium
on fracking, and the State Health Department is currently studying its
potential health effects. But in recent years some towns, worried that
the state would eventually allow the practice, have taken matters into
their own hands by banning fracking within their borders. Among them,
two towns — Dryden, in Tompkins County, and Middlefield, in Otsego
County — amended their zoning laws in 2011 to prohibit fracking, on the
basis that it would threaten the health, environment and character of
the communities.

Subsequently, an energy company that had
acquired oil and gas leases in Dryden before the 2011 zoning amendment,
and a dairy farm in Middlefield that had leased land to a gas drilling
company, filed legal complaints, arguing that state oil and gas law
pre-empted the town ordinances.

On Monday, in a 5-to-2 decision,
the State Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court ruling rejecting that
argument, and found that the towns did indeed have the authority to ban
fracking through land use regulations.

Numerous municipalities
across the state have either banned fracking or are considering doing
so, and the trend may accelerate because of the court’s ruling.

In
the fracking process, a mix of water and chemicals is injected into the
ground at high pressure to break up shale deposits and release natural
gas. Opponents fear that the chemicals may contaminate groundwater. Gov.
Andrew M. Cuomo has delayed making a decision whether to allow fracking
as he tries to balance the potential for economic development against
the concerns of environmental advocates.

Opponents of fracking immediately celebrated the ruling.

“This
sends a message to all the oil and gas drillers anxiously eyeing our
borders: The people of New York will not be steamrolled,” Kate Sinding,
the director of the Community Fracking Defense Project at the Natural
Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

The Dryden town
supervisor, Mary Ann Sumne, said, “The oil and gas industry tried to
bully us into backing down, but we took our fight all the way to New
York’s highest court.” She added, “I hope our victory serves as an
inspiration to people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, New
Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, California and elsewhere who are also
trying to do what’s right for their own communities.”

Thomas S. West, a lawyer for one of the energy companies, Norse Energy Corporation USA,
said he was disappointed by the ruling, which he said made it
increasingly unlikely that gas drilling companies would invest in New
York State.

“Industry has already fled the state because of the six-year moratorium,” Mr. West said.

In
the future, he said, companies will have to weigh whether to invest
“the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars required to develop the
resource, only to be at risk of a municipal ban.”

Norse Energy Corporation itself is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

“They’re
sort of the poster child for what the six-year moratorium has done to
companies that were too heavily invested in New York,” Mr. West said.

As for the Cuomo administration’s review of whether to allow fracking, there appears to be no end in sight.

Drilling
companies and landowners hoping to lease their properties for natural
gas extraction have accused Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who is up for
re-election in November, of trying to drag out the process for political
reasons. Polls have repeatedly found voters roughly split over whether
fracking should be allowed, so a large swath of the electorate may wind
up unhappy whichever way the Cuomo administration proceeds.

Mr.
Cuomo’s Republican challenger, Rob Astorino, the Westchester County
executive, has tried to draw attention to the issue, arguing that what
he describes as the governor’s vacillation over fracking is costing the
state much-needed jobs and economic activity.

The expected completion of the Health Department’s inquiry has been pushed back, and state health officials have insisted on secrecy as they conduct their study.

Appearing
alongside Mr. Cuomo at the gay pride parade in Manhattan on Sunday, the
acting state health commissioner, Dr. Howard A. Zucker, declined to
provide an update on the health study. Asked if the study would be
completed by the election in November, Dr. Zucker responded, “I would
need to review the data before I could answer.”

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7) For a Revolutionary IraqFor a Revolutionary Secular Democratic Sovereign and Independent Iraq

Statement by Revolutionary Marxist and Socialist
Organizations in the Region al-manshour.org,
June 28, 2014

http://al-manshour.org/node/5536

June 28,
2014—Once again, Iraq is undergoing serious political and security
developments. Whole sectors of the Iraqi army have withdrawn from
confrontations with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/Levant (ISIS)
and other militias. The cities of Mosul and Tikrit were captured, in
addition to several provinces and regions in the western and northern
governorates—home to the Sunni majority and the militias are currently
advancing towards the capital, Baghdad.

A large-scale
security void was created and war, chaos, and terror began to spread.
Hundreds-of-thousands of families fled to safer areas, especially to
Erbil and Dohuk in the Kurdistan Region.

The battles
continue, despite the challenge against ISIS posed by some armed clans,
the Iraqi army, and the Peshmerga forces of Kurdistan Region, especially
in Kirkuk, Diyala, and nearby suburbs and regions. Hit and run
operations continue between ISIS and its adversaries. In Sunni-majority
western governorates, security and military institutions have all but
collapsed.

However, ISIS could not have launched this
dangerous advance or taken on this influential size if not for two main
factors. The U.S. occupation, on one hand, and the
sectarian-confessional state it contributed to producing, on the other,
had been critical in giving rise to ISIS.

Yet the most
flagrant transgressions in the context of this campaign were the
sectarian massacres committed by ISIS. There are stories about mass
executions, with unparalleled brutality, of hundreds of prisoners, out
of the thousands who had surrendered. This is in addition to all sorts
of acts of repression, deportation, and persecution for religious and
ethnic reasons, not to mention the use of rape against women and girls
or forcing them to marry fighters from the armed group.

ISIS
control culminated in the imposition of strict Sharia rules after the
announcement of the “city paper” in Mosul—a 16-article document
dictating the lives of citizens. One of the articles indicate that the
Islamic State will be the sole authority in control of the city’s
resources, and that it will punish anyone who steals from public funds.

On
the other hand, ISIS seized the equivalent of hundreds-of-millions of
U.S. dollars from banks, government facilities, and municipalities, and
confiscated countless quantities of weapons left behind by fleeing
soldiers and officers.

The document advises all men to
participate in collective prayers and prohibits the sale and
consumption of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, among other Sharia
restrictions. It also bans all councils, assemblies, and banners, under
any name, in addition to carrying weapons, considering these acts as
divisive and deserving of the death sentence.

The
document reveals the position adopted by ISIS concerning statues and
shrines, which it threatens to demolish, in addition to destroying the
graves of saints. It calls on women to remain at home except in
emergency situations. In summary, ISIS’ rule has left people fearful for
their lives, including the armed militias “allied” to them (information
indicates around 23 groups who joined the campaign).

The
reaction of [Iraqi prime minister Nouri] al-Maliki’s government to the
security and military developments was no less hazardous. It called for
the adoption of a comprehensive military response, imposing a state of
emergency, and declaring a state of high alert. Maliki’s government also
asked the U.S., Iran, and other powers to intervene in Iraq and assist
in defeating the ISIS invasion.

However, as this
situation unravels, the country could be pushed into the throes of a
confessional war, destroying everything in its path, with deadly
consequences to the Arab region as a whole. This impending threat is
backed by the Shia authority in Iraq represented by al-Sistani, who
issued a fatwa declaring jihad against ISIS and calling people to join
the army.

Expectedly, these events took on an
unmistakable regional and global dimension. Iraq is one of the world’s
largest crude oil producers and has been the center of more than a
decade of political, sectarian, confessional, and ethnic conflicts. The
country’s situation is tightly linked to Syria and the events in that
country, as well as to sectarian and confessional balances in the region
as a whole.

The blatant interference of neighboring
countries—Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, and others—will produce
more complications and add impetus to confessional and sectarian strife
like in Syria today. This interference will hinder (and even threaten to
abort) the efforts and aspirations of Iraqis, from all over the
spectrum, to initiate a revolutionary process aiming to establish a
democratic, free, and prosperous society.

Such
aspirations were apparent in massive demonstrations held in the past and
throughout 2013, which were violently and bloodily repressed by Maliki.
Furthermore, the growth of ISIS influence in Iraq will have
particularly direct and dangerous repercussions on the conflict in
Syria, undermining attempts against the Syrian regime.

As
usual, the U.S. will exploit the events on multiple levels, in an
effort to compensate for losses incurred during its occupation of Iraq.
The security agreement signed between the two countries three years ago
did not permit the U.S. to keep a permanent military base in Iraq.
Today, however, the U.S. seeks to exploit this opportunity to intervene
in the situation militarily, on multiple fronts, through sending troops
to protect its monstrous embassy and hundreds of consultants, as well as
warplanes to conduct sustained flights in Iraqi airspace and
positioning warships in the Gulf.

It is also likely
that the U.S. will conduct airstrikes to save the regime headed by
Maliki from collapse, even if at the expense of asking for the prime
minister’s resignation and favoring the inclusion of confessional forces
in decision-making positions. Ultimately, these steps merely aim to
protect U.S. interests, which have always been and still remain
inconsistent with the interest of Iraqis of all sorts and types.

There
is no doubt that these are serious outcomes of “the political process”
whose roadmap was set by the U.S. occupation. After the fall of the
Baathist dictatorship, the Iraqi state was rebuilt according to
sectarian and ethnic power-sharing, in the context of the shift in
decades-old power balances and the sharp decline in the capacity of the
old army, which was disbanded by the occupation. The U.S.
administration, which occupied the country, and neighboring Iran, which
benefited the most from the occupation, had both contributed to deep
transformations in social, political, and economic balances in Iraq.

The
most blatant example of this transformation underlies the military
campaign spearheaded by ISIS, which aims to become the actual leader of a
fragile coalition of several nationalist forces and clans, including
remnants of the Baath party and officers and soldiers from the old
disbanded army. But this convergence is temporary in essence and risks
disintegration, due to ISIS’ relentless pursuit for the monopolization
of power and control over spoils. Within the “coalition” itself, serious
signs are beginning to appear on several fronts about the likelihood of
bloody confrontations.

There are those who maintain
that an important section of these forces are involved in a real
uprising against Maliki’s repressive, subservient, and profoundly
corrupt authority. They are attempting to distance themselves from the
confessional and sectarian mobilization, calling for a truly national
struggle against Maliki and confessional forces linked to Iranian aims.

However,
those who claim this fail to see that even this section of forces
suffers from blatant flaws in its behavior and political positions, the
risks of which must be clarified. These flaws appear in these factions’
commitment to the alliance headed by ISIS, and their adamant objections
to criticisms against the heinous crimes committed by ISIS and its
suspect plans. In particular, they are manifested in the lack of
confrontation of these crimes by force of arms, and therefore their
complicity in these crimes, in order to avoid breaking the “unity” of
the forces fighting the regime and Maliki’s forces.

Everyday,
Iraqis pay the price of the former U.S. war and occupation, in blood
and tragedy. They also bear the burden of sectarian divisions and
unbridled, extremist Islamist movements, which coincide with imperialist
interventions and the regressive rule of sectarian and confessional
regimes in the area. Iraqis are hostages of reactionary, traditional
forces, which have built the state in their image. In the event of its
failure, Iraq might break up into various mini-states and sectarian and
confessional emirates. The country’s fate is open to all possible and
frightening scenarios.

A radical popular leftist
movement in Iraq must be created. It could benefit from the actual
resentment felt by the majority of people living in areas facing
marginalization, exclusion, and deprivation of the majority of social
and economic rights. This is in addition to the discontent of the great
majority of Iraqis, regardless of their sect or confession, in every
corner of the country.

This movement should strive to
organize this discontent and orient the resentment and readiness to rise
up in a truly revolutionary direction, against the sectarian,
capitalist, and corrupt regime established by the U.S. occupation. It
should carry the responsibility to defeat obscurantist and terrorist
plans prepared by ISIS and similar groups, regressive and imperialist
nations, the government of Maliki, and the rabid sectarian forces on
which it leans.

The situation in Syria and the assault
on the revolutionary mobilization, attempting to crush it by all means,
must be avoided. This should be based on severing links with movements
and forces that are sectarian/confessional, nationalist/chauvinist, or
that seek to prevail and control.

Based on the
conviction that the sectarian and confessional calamity looming over
Iraq must be avoided and the unity of its people must be regained on
democratic, secular, and revolutionary foundations, the following points
should be emphasized:

1. All types of
intervention in Iraqi affairs by the U.S., Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
Turkey, and others must be rejected, as they are not only completely
incompatible with the interests of the people of Iraq, but also fuel the
fire of a terrible confessional war. We call on the UN General
Assembly, in particular, to hold all countries accountable for their
intervention in this situation and subject them to sanctions, according
to the Uniting for Peace mechanism.

2. All
political disputes in Iraq must be solved by appealing to the opinion,
will, and interests of Iraqis themselves. This should be through an
advanced democratic process from outside the sectarian system, and that
ensures active political participation of all citizens, without any type
of discrimination, whether in building their new state structure or
through local government in all the cities and governorates.

3.
The Iraqi people and liberationist factions must be at the
forefront of confronting the bloody terrorism of ISIS and the
counter-terrorism against it. This necessitates the self-organization of
people in cities, slums, and villages in armed popular committees and
councils, to counter the attacks of obscurantist terrorist organizations
and all the opposing confessional militias. These groups should be
incapacitated, defeated, and their presence eliminated from Iraq.
However, this contains also an international task, a mobilization for
the widest global campaign to support Iraqis in their efforts to
confront the hostile forces and militias, on one hand, and the existing
dictatorial sectarian capitalist regime, on the other, aiming for its
overthrow. This would advance the aspirations of Iraqis for a future
based on justice, freedom, and human dignity, and prevent the
disintegration of the country or its partition.

4.
In the above context, the revolutionary left and democratic, feminist,
and progressive groups in the Arab region should work together to
confront the sectarian and confessional approach and policies of Arab
regimes, on one hand, and obscurantist and reactionary right-wing
groups, on the other. This is in order to defeat the
sectarian/confessional threat, which is the main weapon used by the
counter-revolution to attack the revolutionary space that could unite
the peoples of the region.

5. Finally, there is
urgent need to provide the necessary aid to refugees and the displaced,
through all sorts of international organizations, to reduce and control
the impact of the current humanitarian crisis.

The regional and international conspiracy against the Iraqi people must be defeated.

Down with all imperialist interventions in Iraq.

Defeat the obscurantist assault by ISIS and its brethren.

Victory to the Iraqi people against their internal and external enemies.

For a democratic, secular, revolutionary, sovereign, and independent Iraq.

A
deadly virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea, or PEDv, is estimated to have
killed, on average, more than 100,000 piglets and young hogs each week
since it first showed up in Iowa in May 2013, wreaking havoc on the pork
industry.

The number of hogs slaughtered this year is
down 4.2 percent, according to the United States Agriculture Department,
to roughly 50 million from more than 52 million in the same period in
2013.

That drop drove up the price of bacon and
center-cut pork chops sold in the United States by more than 12 percent
in May, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices for bacon rose more than 15 percent,
and pork chops were up almost 13 percent.

“I’ve been a
vet since 1981, and there is no precedent for this,” said Paul Sundberg,
vice president for science and technology at the National Pork Board.
“It is devastatingly virulent.”The fatality numbers are so staggering
that environmentalists have grown worried about the effects of state
laws requiring the burial of so many carcasses, and what that will do to
the groundwater.

“We know there is a lot of mortality
from this disease, and we’re seeing evidence of burial in areas with
shallow groundwater that a lot of people rely on for drinking water and
recreation,” said Kelly Foster, senior lawyer at the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental group.

Waterkeeper
has asked the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services to put a mass disposal plan into effect, and wants it to
declare a state of emergency. On its website and YouTube, the
organization has posted photos of dead piglets barely covered with earth
and boxes overflowing with the bodies of young pigs, although it is
unclear whether all were victims of the virus.

Steven
W. Troxler, the state’s agricultural commissioner, has so far declined
to seek an emergency declaration, saying in a letter to Waterkeeper that
he thought existing disposal systems, including composting and the
shipping of carcasses to rendering facilities, were up to the challenge.
“We are not aware of any published scientific data that indicates any
groundwater contamination as a result of PEDv,” according to the letter,
which Mr. Troxler wrote in March.

Some of the huge hog
operations in North Carolina have become ensnared in disputes over
aerial photographing of farms, some of it unrelated to the spread of the
virus, and industry officials have expressed concerns about the
practice as well.

Three state lawmakers had proposed a
bill that effectively would require state agencies to keep under lock
and key any aerial photographs of agricultural operations that include
global positioning coordinates. The move echoed an effort by United
States Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, to impose a
yearlong moratorium on the Environmental Protection Agency’s taking of
aerial photographs of cattle feedlots and farming operations to monitor
compliance with the Clean Water Act.

Last summer, George Steinmetz, a photographer working for National Geographic, was arrested
in Kansas under the state’s “ag gag” law after using a paraglider to
take photographs of cattle feedlots and other agricultural operations
for an article on the food industry.

Precisely how
many pigs have died from the virus, which causes acute diarrhea that is
virtually 100 percent lethal for piglets two to three weeks old, is
unknown. The Agriculture Department did not require reporting of the
disease until June 5, and it does not collect data on how many pigs the
virus has killed, instead referring the question to the hog industry —
which does not like to talk about it.

The
U.S.D.A. said that as of May 28, nearly 7,000 samples submitted from 30
states to labs tested positive for the virus. Since May, there have
been reports of pigs afflicted with the virus in a 31st state. “We do
know that it is a particularly persistent virus, and it can survive long
periods in less-than-ideal environments,” Joelle Hayden, a department
spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack recently pledged $26.2 million for a variety of efforts to
fight the virus, including development of a vaccine. The largest amount,
$11.1 million, is to be allocated to helping hog producers with
infected herds enhance their biosecurity practices.

The
money is badly needed. In an illustration of how indiscriminate the
disease is, the virus was found in Vermont in March on a traditional
farm with a small drift of pigs raised largely on pasture. “I was not as
surprised as one might think,” said Dr. Kristin Haas, the state
veterinarian. “Even though in Vermont and most of the Northeast we don’t
have the same type of commercial swine operations that you find in Iowa
and North Carolina, there is still a tremendous amount of livestock
moving in and out of the state.”

Michael Yezzi,
proprietor of Flying Pigs Farm just across the border in New York State,
said farmers suspected that the virus arrived on a truck from
Pennsylvania. “It’s a very big concern because we have young stock on
the farm, piglets born on the farm and piglets brought in from regional
breeders,” Mr. Yezzi said. “We have to make sure the farms we’re working
with don’t have it, because it’s going to kill everything under a
certain age.

“Nobody wants to lose 10 to 20 percent of
their yearly supply of pigs, whether that would be 150 for someone like
me or 15,000 for someone in Iowa.”

Prevention is no
mean feat. At the Hord Livestock Company in north-central Ohio, for
instance, trucks returning from feed deliveries are cleaned and
disinfected and then the trailers are baked to 160 degrees for 10
minutes. Drivers wear disposable bootees, and farm supervisors are not
allowed to travel between Hord’s farms.

And yet the
company has just finished the four- to five-month process of eliminating
the virus from one of its farms and is working to disinfect another and
build up its sows’ immunity so they can pass it on to their piglets in
their colostrum. The two farms had different strains of the virus, one
more deadly than the other.

Pat Hord, whose family owns
the business, would not say how many of its animals died from PEDv.
“Even though the economic hit is definitely significant, it’s probably
the emotional side that’s the worst of it for me and my family and the
team here,” Mr. Hord said. “All we do every day is take care of the
animals the best that we can, but there’s nothing you can do for them
when this disease hits — it’s out of your control.”

The
Hords, who also raise cattle, use composting to dispose of animal
carcasses, laying dead animals on a concrete slab, mixing in sawdust and
rotating the mixture as it decomposes to aerate it. Mr. Hord said
disposal of the increased number of dead pigs had not been a particular
problem. “The good news, if there is any in this,” he said, “is that
baby pigs are very small.”

Waterkeeper, however, says that the sheer volume of dead animals poses an environmental threat.

“They’re
very secretive about how many pigs have died in North Carolina, but we
estimate that it’s about two million over the last year or so,” said Rick Dove,
a retired Marine Corps lawyer who has taken aerial photos of pig farms
for Waterkeeper’s North Carolina affiliate. “They can’t move those pigs
off the farm because it will spread disease, so they’re being buried in
ground along the coastal waterways where the groundwater level is high.”

State
regulation requires the bodies to be buried at least two feet
underground, which in many places means the dead pigs come into contact
with groundwater, Mr. Dove said.

The virus does not infect humans. As the corpses decompose, however, they can become hosts for bacteria and other pathogens.

Each
state has its own requirements for the disposal of carcasses. Iowa, one
of the largest hog-producing states, has a set of disposal methods for
use during emergency disease outbreaks. They range from burial and
rendering to use of alkaline hydrolysis, a highly specialized process
using chemicals and heat to break down tissues.

An Iowa State University publication
describing various processes for disposing of carcasses during an
epidemic estimated that it would take a pit six feet deep, 300 feet long
and 10 feet wide to hold 2,100 pigs, and the pit would need to be
covered with three to six feet of dirt in a site marked by GPS
coordinates and regularly inspected.

North Carolina
issued a warning to a pig operation for having an open burial pit on its
property, Ms. Foster, the Waterkeeper lawyer, said. The organization
brought the issue, which it documented with aerial photos of the farm,
to the attention of the state agriculture department.

The North Carolina Farm Bureau
contends that such photographs create unnecessary expenses for its
members. “Third parties are making complaints to environmental
regulators, and using aerial photography to document what they say are
violations,” said Paul Sherman, director of the farm bureau’s air and
energy programs. “The vast majority of those cases are unfounded, but
farmers still have to deal with it, it eats up a good part of a day or
two and often the same complaints come up multiple times.”

JERUSALEM — An autopsy of the Palestinian teenager who was
snatched from an East Jerusalem street and slain on Wednesday found soot
in his lungs that suggests he was burned alive, according to a senior
Palestinian official briefed on the preliminary results.

The autopsy showed that the teenager, Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, 16, who was buried as a martyr on Friday in a funeral that drew thousands,
had a head injury and burns over 90 percent of his body, the
Palestinian attorney general, Mohammed al-A’wewy, wrote on his agency’s
official website.

The Israeli police are still
investigating the attack and have not named any suspects in what is
widely seen as an act of revenge by Jews for the abduction and murder
last month of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank.“It was
obvious through autopsy that there was black smoke on the breathing
airways, windpipes and in the two lungs,” the attorney general’s website
said. “This is proof of inhalation of this material during the torch,
while he was alive.”

The autopsy was conducted by
Israeli doctors and attended by the Palestinian coroner, none of whom
could immediately be reached on Saturday.

Micky
Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said that there had been
no breakthroughs as investigators continued to consider both revenge and
other possible criminal motives, and that legal restrictions prevented
him from discussing details of what they had found so far.

“We’re
trying to understand and get to exactly what took place and what was
the background,” Mr. Rosenfeld said. “It’s critical, as far as the
Israeli police are concerned, it’s critical for us to determine what the
motive was.”

Muhammad’s relatives and Palestinian
leaders have criticized the police and the Israeli news media for
suggesting that the grisly death might have been an honor killing or the
result of a family dispute.

Muhammad was sitting on a
wall outside a mosque and his home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of
Shuafat at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday, waiting for the dawn prayer, when a
gray Hyundai pulled up and two people forced him into the car, according
to video footage that news outlets obtained from security cameras. His
charred body was found in the Jerusalem Forest about 90 minutes later.

Human
rights groups have also lashed out at the police for what they said was
a brutal beating by undercover officers of Tariq Khdeir, 15, an
American-born cousin of Muhammad who is spending his summer vacation in
Jerusalem. They circulated a video of the beating and pictures of
Tariq’s bruised and swollen face, and complained that he was being
detained without charge.

“The continued
state-sanctioned violence against children is unlawful and
unacceptable,” Addameer, a Palestinian group that supports prisoners in
Israeli jails, said in a news release.

The Council on
American-Islamic Relations, noting that Tariq is a high school student
in Tampa, Fla., called on the State Department to intervene and secure
his release. An American consular officer was scheduled to meet the
teenager on Saturday afternoon, ahead of a court hearing scheduled for
Sunday.

Michael Ratney, the American consul general in
Jerusalem, said he could not discuss the case because he had not yet
obtained a privacy waiver from Tariq.

Mr. Rosenfeld,
the police spokesman, said that the video circulated by the rights
groups was “edited and biased” and did not represent the scope of the
events, and that Tariq was one of six people who were arrested Thursday
after clashes in which 15 police officers were injured.

“Hundreds
of rioters, many of them masked, hurled at the forces pipe bombs,
Molotov cocktails, fireworks and stones,” Mr. Rosenfeld said.
“Preliminary investigation of the details of the incident shown in the
video indicates that there were six masked Palestinians, and that three
of them were armed with knives. They resisted arrest and attacked the
officers.

“How does a 15-year-old American student end
up attacking security officers and rioting with hundreds of masked
Palestinians?” he asked.

After hours of raging violence
in Shuafat on Wednesday, there have been sporadic clashes between
Palestinians and Israeli security forces there and in other
neighborhoods of Jerusalem, as well as in Arab-Israeli towns and parts
of the West Bank.

Maan, a Palestinian news agency,
reported that dozens were injured in a clash east of Jerusalem, near the
entrance to Maale Adumim, a large Jewish settlement. Ynet, an Israeli
news site, said masked men burned tires, blocked roads, threw stones and
beat drivers who admitted being Jewish in several Arab towns in
Israel’s north.

Cross-border violence also continued
Saturday as Israel bombed three sites in Gaza after militants fired 14
rockets into southern Israel during the day.

The
exchange continued a pattern since the June 12 abduction-murder of the
three teenagers, for which Israel blames Hamas, the militant Islamic
group that dominates Gaza. Hamas officials said Friday that discussions
were underway to restore a cease-fire after Israel massed troops around
Gaza, but Saturday’s activity indicated that it had not yet been
secured.

When
their son had to take a medical leave from college, Jack and Wendy knew
they — and he — needed help with his binge drinking. Their son’s
psychiatrist, along with a few friends, suggested Alcoholics Anonymous.
He had a disease, and in order to stay alive, he’d have to attend A.A.
meetings and abstain from alcohol for the rest of his life, they said.

But
the couple, a Manhattan reporter and editor who asked to be identified
only by their first names to protect their son’s privacy, resisted that
approach. Instead, they turned to a group of psychologists who
specialize in treating substance use and other compulsive behaviors at
the Center for Motivation and Change.

The
center, known as the C.M.C., operates out of two floors of a
19th-century building on 30th Street and Fifth Avenue. It is part of a
growing wing of addiction treatment that rejects the A.A. model of
strict abstinence as the sole form of recovery for alcohol and drug
users.

Instead, it uses a suite of techniques that
provide a hands-on, practical approach to solving emotional and
behavioral problems, rather than having abusers forever swear off the
substance — a particularly difficult step for young people to take.

And
unlike programs like Al-Anon, A.A.’s offshoot for family members, the
C.M.C.’s approach does not advocate interventions or disengaging from
someone who is drinking or using drugs. “The traditional language often
sets parents up to feel they have to make extreme choices: Either force
them into rehab or detach until they hit rock bottom,” said Carrie
Wilkens, a psychologist who helped found the C.M.C. 10 years ago.
“Science tells us those formulas don’t work very well.”

When
parents issue edicts, demanding an immediate end to all substance use,
it often lodges the family in a harmful cycle, said Nicole Kosanke, a
psychologist at the C.M.C. Tough love might look like an appropriate
response, she said, but it often backfires by further damaging the
frayed connections to the people to whom the child is closest.

The
center’s approach includes motivational interviewing, a goal-oriented
form of counseling; cognitive behavioral therapy, a short-term form of
psychotherapy; and harm reduction, which seeks to limit the negative
consequences of substance abuse. The psychologists also support the use of anti-craving medications like naltrexone, which block the brain’s ability to release endorphins and the high of using the substance.

A 2002 study conducted by researchers at the University of New Mexico and published in the journal Addiction
showed that motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy and
naltrexone, which are often used together, are far more effective in
stopping or reducing drug and alcohol use
than the faith-and-abstinence-based model of A.A. and other “TSF” — for
12-step facilitation — programs. Results of an updated study have not
yet been released.

Jack
and Wendy’s son, who is in his early 20s, began drinking to alleviate
crippling anxiety and ease persistent depression. His drinking, while
worrisome, was not an entrenched pattern, his parents believed. Some of
Jack’s friends suggested that if their son did not attend A.A. of his
own volition, the only thing Jack and Wendy could do was attend Al-Anon.

“The implication was that there was no other
solution,” Jack said. “There was a great deal of sadness on their part,
empathetic sadness, which in some ways was frightening in itself.”

“A
lot of people credit A.A. with saving their lives,” he added. “It’s
understandable that they can’t dissociate themselves from a program that
worked for them. But it’s an all-or-nothing commitment for life. That
really freaked me out.”

In A.A.’s literature,
“alcoholism” is defined as “a progressive illness that can never be
cured.” Members describe themselves as being “in recovery,” which
translates to lifelong abstinence and adherence to the 12 steps mapped
out in the Big Book, published four years after the organization was
founded in 1935. First among them is the obligation for members to admit
their “powerlessness” over alcohol. It also relies heavily on faith;
God is mentioned in five of the 12 steps.

On a warm
evening last month, about a dozen parents gathered to hear Dr. Kosanke
describe the center’s program for families, which goes by the acronym
Craft, for Community Reinforcement and Family Training. It rejects, she
said, the use of three words: “addict,” “alcoholic” and “enabling,” a
term often used to describe the acts of loved ones that help perpetuate
unhealthy behaviors.

Instead of addict or alcoholic,
she prefers the terms favored by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, or the DSM-V, which says that
patients suffer from “alcohol use disorder” or “substance abuse
disorder,” terms that convey a spectrum of severity.

“Substance
use takes on a lot of different shapes and sizes,” Dr. Kosanke said.
“There are real downsides to labeling a child with a lifetime identity,
when that truly may or may not turn out to be the case.”

And
calling caring behavior enabling, she said, has a way of turning even
acts of kindness into something negative. “Our field hasn’t done a good
job of defining it in a narrow way that’s appropriate,” she said. “If
you give your kid money knowing he will go buy pot, that’s enabling. If
you take your kid to soccer practice, you’re encouraging healthy
behavior. That’s not ‘enabling.’ ”

Part of the Craft
approach has parents take care of themselves, too, said Lorraine
McNeill-Popper, who volunteers for the parent hotline at the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids,
a nonprofit group devoted to recovery for young people. “If you are
sleep-deprived and stressed out, how can you think clearly?” she said.

Ms.
McNeill-Popper has her own family history of drug abuse. Her twin
brother died of an overdose, and she adopted his son, who later became a
heavy marijuana user and ended up in rehab. “I tell parents, ‘It’s like
when you’re on an airplane, and they tell you to put the oxygen mask
over yourself first. That way you can help with the others.’ ”

The
center’s approach is controversial in the recovery world. David
Rotenberg, executive vice president of treatment at the nonprofit Caron Treatment Centers,
a large drug and alcohol rehabilitation provider with branches in
several states, cautioned against approaches that do not set abstinence
as a goal.

“The majority of people who are chemically
dependent would love to be able to drink and drug in a more moderate
fashion,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “Most drug addicts and alcoholics would
love to drink just a couple of drinks, and they try to do so, with poor
results.”

The C.M.C. doctors say treatment for young
people needs to be tailored for them, since teenagers and young adults
are neurologically, psychologically, socially and legally different from
adults, and have different treatment needs.

Dr.
Wilkens founded the center with a fellow psychologist, Jeffrey Foote, in
2003. The two had worked together in larger hospital-based treatment
centers where they struggled to introduce evidence-based treatments, she
said. When it opened, the C.M.C. was one of the few centers in the
nation that were not tethered to the 12-step model, she said.

“It
was our strong belief that you can work with people at any stage of
change, ranging from ‘I’m not even sure I have a substance problem’ all
the way to ‘I just got out of rehab and want to go to A.A. meetings
every day,’ ” Dr. Wilkens said. “We don’t have a judgment on how you
address your substance use problem. Maybe A.A. is helpful to you and you
find everything you need there. If it’s not, we genuinely believe there
are many strategies for helping to resolve them.”

In fact, a majority of college binge drinkers do not go on to become alcohol dependent, said Stanton Peele,
a Brooklyn psychologist who has studied substance use for decades and
is a longtime critic of the A.A. model. While binge drinking and other
drug use are risky, multiple studies show that most people “mature out”
of such recklessness when they begin to have increased responsibilities.

A federally financed study of 43,000 randomly
selected Americans, called the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol
and Related Conditions, or Nesarc,
found that 75 percent of those who are heavy drinkers eventually regain
control without rehab or A.A., Dr. Peele said. The survey, which was
conducted in the early 2000s and was designed to be representative of
the larger United States population, was aimed at helping researchers
understand high-risk drinking patterns, design better-targeted treatment
programs and monitor recovery. It found that over half of those who
recover managed to cut back instead of abstaining, Dr. Peele said.

“Isn’t
it more encouraging to know that most people are going to outgrow these
habits than to think they’re going to have a disease for the rest their
lives?” Dr. Peele asked. “The data show that the odds are in your
favor.”

Dr. Wilkens is familiar with that pattern. She was a college binge drinker herself and also struggled with bulimia.
Once she left her home state of Kansas for New York City, where she
attended Hunter College, she felt culturally stimulated and
intellectually challenged, she said, and the drinking and disordered
eating disappeared.

“When you focus on building up the
world around you, you find stimulation and rewards that are very
different from using drugs and alcohol. You find other ways of soothing
yourself, and things can get better,” she said.

That is
precisely what L.S. learned five years ago. L.S., a Manhattan lawyer in
his early 30s who asked to be identified only by his initials to
protect his privacy, spent nearly a decade as an episodic binge drinker.
He began drinking as a student at his large Midwestern university,
where he played rugby and where many of his best friends belonged to
fraternities. Alcohol, he said, flowed freely through both subcultures.
L.S. said he thought his drinking — weeks of no drinking followed by
serious binges of a few dozen drinks over several days — would end after
college. Yet the behavior did not fade. The morning after his wedding,
he awoke with a hangover that lasted a day and a half.

His
father, who drinks socially, told him that people either were
alcoholics or were not. But L.S. was unprepared to accept that label and
began researching moderation on his own. He found a New York branch of Moderation Management, or M.M., a secular, peer-led support group that takes a cognitive behavioral approach.

In
contrast to A.A., which stresses a drinker’s lack of power in the
presence of alcohol, M.M. encourages personal responsibility for
drinking. The group, founded in 1993, encourages members to start with
an alcohol-free month, and then allows for the reintroduction of
moderate amounts of alcohol. (Critics note that one of its founders,
Audrey Kishline, was involved in a fatal accident while driving drunk.
She left the group in January 2000 with the intention of joining A.A.,
and three months later, crashed head-on into another vehicle, killing the driver and his 12-year-old daughter.)

L.S.
now attends hourlong meetings once a week at which he and about a dozen
others discuss their goals for moderate drinking, as well as tips,
challenges and progress on avoiding triggers. Since he began attending,
L.S. limits himself to about five drinks a week, well below the 14 drinks M.M. advises as a safe limit for men.

L.S.
is convinced that there is no single approach for all problem drinkers.
“M.M. doesn’t profess to work for everybody. It has a scientifically
based approach that works for some people,” he said.

The
C.M.C. psychologists are blunt about the reasons many teenagers and
young adults use drugs: When it comes to decreasing anxiety and
relieving depression, substances tend to work for the short term. “Kids
aren’t crazy for using them,” Dr. Wilkens said. “They have an effect
that is reinforcing in some way. If you understand that, you can
strategically work to support and reinforce other healthy, competing
behaviors.”

That approach runs through the book she
wrote with Dr. Foote and Dr. Kosanke, “Beyond Addiction: How Science and
Kindness Can Help People Change.” It was published in February, just as
the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman from a heroin overdose
struck fear in the hearts of many parents whose children use drugs. It
landed Dr. Wilkens on several talk shows and drew scores of calls to the
center. (In addition to its New York office, the group has opened a
residential treatment center in the Berkshires.) Dr. Wilkens’s message
struck a chord with Wendy. Her son had just left school, and the couple
was exploring treatment options. Wired in the evenings with extreme
anxiety, he drank excessively to get himself to sleep. Once in bed, he’d
stay there till 5 p.m.

Before she read the book,
Wendy said, she would stomp upstairs hourly to announce in an
exasperated voice, “It’s 2 o’clock. You’ve got to get out of there.”

“I’d
do that three or four more times and then be fuming,” she said. “I’d be
fuming all day, at home doing my work and knowing he was upstairs
sleeping off whatever he’d been drinking the night before.”

After
learning the Craft approach, Wendy said, she stopped nagging, changing
her negative, accusatory tone to a more pleasant one by asking
open-ended questions.

Today, Wendy and Jack’s son is
working with his psychiatrist and getting help for his depression and
anxiety. He seems to be bingeing much less. When the family went out to
dinner on a recent night, the parents each ordered a beer or a glass of
wine and sipped slowly through dinner. “How will he learn moderation if
he doesn’t see it modeled?” Wendy asked.

Ellie hopes
her daughter, too, will be able to change her drinking patterns. Ellie
is a New York editor, who asked that her last name be withheld to
protect her family’s privacy. Her daughter, 23, has struggled with binge
drinking since she was 16. While her daughter graduated from college
and holds a responsible job, she still binges on weekends. “It’s so much
a part of the culture, it’s everywhere,” Ellie said. “She says she’d
have no social life if she stopped drinking.”

Ellie,
who grew up in a home in which many relatives attended A.A., at first
tried Al-Anon. “They talk about ‘disengaging,’ ” she said. “But it’s
your child, and I’m not one of those people who can put her out on the
street.”

While their daughter has resisted treatment
so far, Ellie and her husband have begun seeing a therapist at the
C.M.C. to better navigate their relationship.

“My
child is much more than a label or a diagnosis,” she said. “She’s not a
problem to be solved, but a child to be loved and guided toward a better
life.”

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11) Several Suspects Arrested in Death of Palestinian Youth, Israeli Official Says

JERUSALEM
— The Israeli police have arrested a number of suspects in connection
with the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian youth from East
Jerusalem who was found beaten and burned in a Jerusalem forest last
week, an Israeli official said Sunday.

The official,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of legal and political
restrictions related to the case, added that the motive appeared to be
“nationalistic,” indicating that it was a revenge attack for the recent
kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.

Several
East Jerusalem neighborhoods have erupted in outrage over the killing
of the Palestinian teenager, Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, with youths
clashing with Israeli security forces for several days. The unrest
spread over the weekend to some Arab towns in northern Israel, and
tensions remained high along the border with Gaza in the south.

Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called for calm.“We are working
on several fronts simultaneously,” he said in remarks before Sunday’s
cabinet meeting. “Experience proves that at such times we must act
responsibly and with equanimity, not hastily,” he added. “We will do
whatever is necessary to restore quiet and security to the south.”

Mr.
Netanyahu also called on local Arab leaders to “show responsibility and
come out against the wave of disturbances in order to restore quiet.”

At
least six suspects have been arrested, according to officials and
reports by Israeli news websites. Officials speaking for the police and
the Shin Bet internal security agency refused to provide details
immediately, citing an order barring public comments, but they confirmed
that there had been a significant development in the case.

Security
cameras in the Shuafat neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where Muhammad
was snatched a few yards from his home, captured images of two men who
local residents identified as the kidnappers. On Saturday, the
Palestinian attorney general said that an autopsy had found soot in Muhammad’s lungs, suggesting that he had been burned alive after being beaten.

Israeli
troops remained amassed along the border with Gaza, threatening a
large-scale military operation to stop Palestinian militants from firing
rockets against southern Israeli towns.

The
tit-for-tat clashes continued on Sunday, even as efforts were underway
to restore an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that came into effect after
eight days of fierce cross-border fighting in November 2012. Militants
fired 15 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel, according to the
Israeli military, hours after Israel carried out 10 airstrikes against
targets associated with militant groups in Gaza. No casualties were
reported on either side.

Fares Akram contributed reporting from Gaza.

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12) Beating of Palestinian-American Boy Caught on Video
By ROBERT MACKEY

As my colleague Jodi Rudoren reports,
a video posted online appears to show Israeli police officers beating a
Palestinian-American boy after his detention on Thursday during
protests in East Jerusalem that followed the death of his cousin, a
teenager who was kidnapped and killed two days earlier.

Relatives
said that video recorded from two angles by witnesses showed two masked
police officers hitting and kicking the boy, Tariq Khdeir, 15, a high school sophomore from Tampa, Fla.,
as they took him into custody with 11 others. A police spokesman, Micky
Rosenfeld, accused the boy of “attacking security officers and
rioting,” but his father, Salah Abu Khdeir, told The Associated Press
that he had witnessed his son’s arrest and insisted that he was not
involved in any violence. “I asked my son, ‘Did you throw rocks?’ He
said, ‘No,'” Mr. Abu Khdeir said in an interview with CNN.One of the witness videos, provided to the local broadcaster Palestine Today, was later obtained by the Israeli news site +972. The second clip, originally uploaded to Facebook, was copied and posted on YouTube by Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American activist, to illustrate a report on the incident for his Electronic Intifada website.

Photographs of the boy before and after his arrest were released to the media by his family.

Addameer, a Palestinian group that supports prisoners in Israeli jails, said in a statement that Tariq had been detained without charge and was denied medical treatment for his injuries for five hours.

The State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement
that an official from the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem visited
the detained boy on Saturday. “We are profoundly troubled by reports
that he was severely beaten while in police custody,” she said, “and
strongly condemn any excessive use of force.”

Palestinian protesters clashed with the Israeli police this week before and after the funeral of Muhammad Abu Khdeir,
a 16-year-old whose burned body was discovered on Wednesday, shortly
after he was forced into a car in East Jerusalem. Footage recorded by
surveillance cameras appeared to capture the abduction on video, and police are trying to determine if the crime was a reprisal killing carried out by Jewish extremists seeking to avenge the deaths of three Israeli teenagers whose bodies were discovered on Monday, near where they had been hitchhiking in the occupied West Bank last month.

CAIRO
— Cairo bus driver Mohamed Salame voted for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the
hope he would fix Egypt's manifold problems, but now he curses the new
president for making life harder by hiking the price of the
state-subsidized fuel vital to his livelihood.

With
the economy reeling from more than three years of political turmoil,
Salame says the reform couldn't have come at a worse time. It cost him
80 Egyptian pounds ($11.19), double the usual amount, to run his
12-seater microbus on Saturday when the price rise was introduced.

"I
have five kids, God only knows how I can pay my rent this month," said
Salame, 44, furious over the move which raised the price of gasoline,
diesel and natural gas by up to 78 percent.

The
government's decision to slash energy subsidies is being applauded by
economists who say it is an unavoidable step towards curbing state
spending in the country where the deficit is running at 12 percent of
gross domestic product.

But big industrial companies warn the price hikes will erode their competitive advantage.

And on the streets of Cairo, the economic logic is lost on taxi and bus drivers whose anger points to the political risk.

They
are already hiking fares - some are charging double for a short ride -
underlining the inflationary impact of a decision that seems likely to
drive up prices in an economy where cheap fuel helps to suppress prices
of almost everything.

"I was wrong when I voted for Sisi. We are the
poor of this country and the decision makers are putting a sword's blade
to our throats," said Salame.

Sisi, the former army
chief who deposed Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year, has
been signaling the need for austerity. A fifth of the state budget goes
on subsidizing fuel.

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb
sought to justify the cuts in a televised news conference on Saturday,
saying they were needed to fix the economy. Some of the money saved
would be spent improving education and health services, he said.

"How
can I achieve social justice while I am subsidizing the rich at the
expense of the poor?," he said, echoing a view that the wealthier
Egyptians benefit most from state-subsidized fuel.

He envisions cuts slicing 50 billion pounds from government spending in the coming 12 months.

Despite
the fuel price rise, the government will still be spending a hefty
amount subsidizing fuel and electricity. The budget for the coming 12
months sees 16 percent of state spending going on energy subsidies.

Sisi said the price increases were needed to keep the country's debt crisis from getting worse.

"[The
decisions] needed to be taken now or later, so it is better to confront
[the problem] rather than leave the country to drown if we delayed
longer than this," he said in comments to a state-run newspaper.

'ECONOMIC WAR'

The higher prices mean industries that have benefited from cheap fuel will have to pay prices closer to world rates.

The fuel used by cement factories, for example, is now going to cost a third more, industry sources said.

Ahmed Abou Hashima, chief executive of Egyptian Steel, said the step would strip Egyptian industry of a competitive advantage.

"I ask the government ... to look at how they can protect local industry, for example by anti-dumping tariffs," he said.

Some Egyptians, often those who can afford to absorb higher prices, are sympathetic to the government's move.

Overhearing
one driver complaining about the hike, a young man lent through the
window of the parked vehicle to defend Sisi. "We are in an economic
war," he said.

But that logic holds little sway for
many in a country hooked on subsidies for decades. Taxi drivers held
protests in the cities of Suez and Ismailia on Saturday.

Sayyed
Abdullah, a 40-year-old taxi driver, said he became embroiled in a
physical fight with one passenger in Cairo who refused to pay the amount
he had asked for his ride.

"At first I was optimistic when Sisi won. I hoped there would be security and that we will have work," he said.

"Now I see that the country heading in an unknown direction."

($1 = 7.1501 Egyptian Pounds)

(Editing by Tom Perry and Sophie Hares)

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B.
EVENTS AND ACTIONS

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C.
SPECIAL APPEALS AND

ONGOING
CAMPAIGNS

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Transport Workers Protest Oakland Schools Censorship of Mumia

Fresh
from defeating Obama’s nominee to head the Civil Rights Division of the
Justice Department because he served for a period as Mumia’s attorney,
the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is attacking an Oakland teacher’s
lesson plan that asks students to compare the censorship of Martin
Luther King’s later, thoroughly radical positions with the censorship of
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s prison writings. As a result of this intimidation
from the FOP, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) took down an
entire web site—Urban Dreams—which contained this as well as educational
material on a diverse range of issues!

The following is an open
letter by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee protesting this
outrageous act of police-state censorship . . .

Stop the Censorship!Restore the Urban Dreams web site!

Open letter to Oakland School Board members:May 28, 2014

Members
of the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, including (among others)
the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), BART workers
and AC Transit bus drivers, were appalled to hear that the Oakland
Unified School District succumbed to pressure from the Fraternal Order
of Police (FOP) and the right-wing Fox News by shutting down the
educational Urban Dreams website, which includes material on Mumia
Abu-Jamal and Martin Luther King Jr.

In effect, academic freedom
was pushed to a back seat of the bus. This censorship is wrong. The
Urban Dreams website must be restored immediately for all to freely
visit and learn.

If not, OUSD administration has joined in with
the FOP’s vendetta against Mumia Abu-Jamal. The target of the FOP-Fox
News smears was a lesson plan by Oakland teacher Craig Gordon asking
students to compare the media’s wall of silence on Martin Luther King’s
militant anti-corporate, anti-war campaigning with its wall of silence
on Mumia’s writings.

To take that lesson plan down, OUSD took
down the entire Urban Dreams website, a website containing many rich and
evocative teacher-developed lessons, of which Gordon’s is one. Several
of these lesson plans were still in active use by teachers in Oakland
and elsewhere. [Urban Dreams was initially set up under a grant from the
federal Dept. of Education in 1999-2004].

Academic freedom was pushed to the back of the bus. This censorship is wrong!

Mumia
Abu-Jamal, a Black journalist called the “voice of the voiceless,” was
framed for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman over 30 years ago and
sentenced to death. Only recently was this innocent man removed from
death row.

Fifteen years ago, in the best tradition of the
abolitionists, Oakland teachers initiated a teach-in on the plight of
Mumia Abu-Jamal and the vestige of slavery, the death penalty. Indeed,
Craig Gordon was one of the organizers of that teach-in.

Following
that stellar example in 1999, striking school teachers in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, demanded his release from prison. As well, longshore
workers shutdown all West Coast ports and led a march of 25,000 strong
in San Francisco calling for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Workers
in the Bay Area, especially here in Oakland, have a long and proud
tradition of defending Black victims of the racist state oppression –
from Martin Luther King Jr. to Angela Davis to Huey Newton to Oscar
Grant.

Oakland teachers have an obligation to teach that history and students have a right to learn from that history!

The Urban Dreams website must be restored immediatelyfor all to freely visit and learn!

Because
of a determined people’s movement, Lynne is finally home with her
family. But she has urgent medical needs and costs. Lynne’s Stage 4
breast cancer spread a year ago to both lungs, back, bones and lymph
nodes. Now 74, she has lost weight and has trouble breathing; doctors
estimate her lifespan at 12 months. Lynne will soon begin treatment
requiring her to pay deductibles and co-payments. To boost the odds,
she’ll use a special diet, vitamins, and other healing methods – some
costly and none covered by insurance.
Lynne’s spirit is indomitable – help her fight to survive!

Tell Maj. Gen. Buchanan why Chelsea deserves to be free!

PVT Chelsea Manning has served nearly four years in prison, yet she’s
showing a remarkable spirit of persistence. She is unjustly imprisoned,
but not defeated. With plans to enroll in a prelaw/political science
university program, and a legal name change underway, she continues
planning for her future and working to fulfill her dreams. She is
determined to make the best of her situation. However, we know she could
contribute more to the world if she was free.Please write a letter to Convening Authority Major General Buchanan today urging him to reduce Chelsea’s sentence!
We began collecting letters to include in PVT Manning’s clemency
packet last fall. We expected that the military would finalize her
record of trial last December, and that she could then submit her
application to Maj. Gen. Buchanan by the end of 2013. Just like so many
times before, however, the military’s process has slowed Chelsea’s
ability to defend her rights. Defense attorney David Coombs now
estimates that it will be at least another month before the clemency
application can be submitted.
Want to make sure decision-makers know why you believe Chelsea
deserves to go free? If you haven’t done so yet, please write a short
letter to Maj. Gen. Buchanan. Hundreds of people have already submitted
letters for us to use, including Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel
Ellsberg and award-winning author Alice Walker.
As Alice Walker wrote:

Private Manning was the one soldier willing to speak out
against what he thought was wrong. When others silently followed orders,
Manning could not. Pvt. Manning is a humanist, meaning he sees humanity
before nationality, and values human life above all else. When he
released documents to WikiLeaks in 2010, he wanted the American people,
and the world, to judge for themselves if the U.S. military was properly
valuing human life in Iraq and Afghanistan. As taxpayers who fund that
military, we deserve that opportunity.

On
January 29, 2014 Lorenzo Johnson’s attorney, Michael Wiseman, met with
representatives of PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane to discuss the new
evidence of Lorenzo Johnson’s innocence contained in legal filings now
pending in the Pennsylvania courts. This includes affidavits confirming
Johnson’s presence in New York City at the time of the Harrisburg murder
and the identity of the actual killers, as well as police and
prosecutorial misconduct.

Attorney Wiseman said Kane’s office
promised to investigate these new facts in order to assess whether they
merit the relief that Lorenzo Johnson seeks in his PCRA petition.

Speaking
to AP reporter Mary Claire Dale on February 11, 2014 Wiseman said, “We
believe the witnesses we presented to them are credible, and give a
coherent version of the events. I take them at their word, that they’re
going to do a straightforward, honest review.” Kane spokesman Joe
Peters confirmed the meeting to AP “but said the office won’t comment on
the new evidence until the court filing,” (referring to the March 31,
2014 date for the AG’s response to Johnson’s October 2013 court filing).

It
is the Office of the PA Attorney General that is responsible for the
false prosecution of Lorenzo Johnson from trial through appeals. And
just a few months ago, the Attorney General’s office opposed a federal
petition based on this new evidence saying there was no prima facie
claim for relief. This resulted in the denial of Lorenzo Johnson’s
Motion to File a Second Writ of Habeas Corpus in the federal court.

On
December 18, 2013 a press conference called by the Campaign to Free
Lorenzo Johnson protested these actions of the PA Attorney General and
delivered petitions demanding dismissal of the charges and immediate
freedom for Lorenzo. Tazza, Lorenzo’s wife, declared, “1,000 signatures
means we are not in this alone…I won't stop until he’s home. There is
nothing and no one that can stop me from fighting for what’s right.”

This
is Lorenzo Johnson’s second fight for his innocence and freedom. In
January 2012, after 16 years of court battles to prove his innocence, a
federal appeals court held his sentence was based on insufficient
evidence – a judicial acquittal. Lorenzo was freed from prison. But
after a petition filed by the PA Attorney General the U.S. Supreme Court
reinstated Lorenzo Johnson’s conviction and he was re-incarcerated to
continue serving a life sentence without parole for a murder he did not
commit.

This innocent man drove himself back to prison in June
2012—after less than five months of freedom—leaving his new wife and
family, construction job and advocacy on behalf of others wrongfully
convicted. The reason Lorenzo Johnson voluntarily returned to prison?
Because he is innocent and fighting for full vindication.

In the
words of Lorenzo Johnson, “A second is too long to be in prison when
you are Innocent, so eighteen years … is Intolerable.”

Today
we issue an international call for Spring Days of Action—2014, a
coordinated campaign in April and May to end drone killings, drone
surveillance and global militarization.

The campaign will focus on drone bases, drone research facilities and test sites and drone manufacturers.

The campaign will provide information on:

1.
The suffering of tens-of-thousands of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Yemen, Somalia and Gaza who are under drone attack, documenting the
killing, the wounding and the devastating impact of constant drone
surveillance on community life.

2. How attack and surveillance
drones have become a key element in a massive wave of surveillance,
clandestine military attacks and militarization generated by the United
States to protect a global system of manufacture and oil and mineral
exploitation that is creating unemployment and poverty, accelerating the
waste of nonrenewable resources and contributing to environmental
destruction and global warming.

In addition to cases in the
Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, we will examine President Obama’s
“pivot” into the Asia-Pacific, where the United States has already sold
and deployed drones in the vanguard of a shift of 60 percent of its
military forces to try to control China and to enforce the planned
Trans-Pacific Partnership. We will show, among other things, how this
surge of “pivot” forces, greatly enabled by drones, and supported by the
U.S. military-industrial complex, will hit every American community
with even deeper cuts in the already fragile social programs on which
people rely for survival. In short, we will connect drones and
militarization with “austerity” in America.

3. How drone attacks
have effectively destroyed international and domestic legal protection
of the rights to life, privacy, freedom of assembly and free speech and
have opened the way for new levels of surveillance and repression around
the world, and how, in the United States, increasing drone
surveillance, added to surveillance by the National Security Agency and
police, provides a new weapon to repress black, Hispanic, immigrant and
low-income communities and to intimidate Americans who are increasingly
unsettled by lack of jobs, economic inequality, corporate control of
politics and the prospect of endless war.

We will discuss how
the United States government and corporations conspire secretly to
monitor U.S. citizens and particularly how the Administration is
accelerating drone surveillance operations and surveillance inside the
United States with the same disregard for transparency and law that it
applies to other countries, all with the cooperation of the Congress.

The campaign will encourage activists around the world to win passage
of local laws that prohibit weaponized drones and drone surveillance
from being used in their communities as well as seeking national laws to
bar the use of weaponized drones and drone surveillance.

The campaign will draw attention to the call for a ban on weaponized drones by RootsAction.org that has generated a petition with over 80,000 signers:

Sireen
Khudairy was arrested again at 4am on Tuesday 7th January 2014. According to
reports she has been taken to Huwwara military point. When the Israeli army
took her from her home they didn't show any papers to her or the person she was
with.

This
follows eight months of harassment of this 24-year-old Palestinian woman who is
a teacher, activist and supporter of the non-violent action against the Israeli
occupation. She was previously imprisoned from May to July 2013, and has been
subjected to frequent harassment ever since. See further details at:

http://freesireen.wordpress.com

Please
help by contacting your Embassies urgently to demand her release and spread her
appeal widely. Follow updates on:

https://www.facebook.com/FreeSireenKhudiri?ref=hl

Please
contact us to let us know any action you take. We will pass this information on
to her family. Thanks for your solidarity and support.

Steven Katsineris, January 2014

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U.S.
Court of Appeals Rules Against Lorenzo Johnson’s
New Legal Challenge to His Frame-up Conviction!
Demand the PA Attorney General Dismiss the Charges!
Free Lorenzo Johnson, Now!

The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied Lorenzo Johnson’s motion to
file a Second Habeas Corpus Petition. The order contained the outrageous
declaration that Johnson hadn’t made a “prima facie case” that he had new
evidence of his innocence. This not only puts a legal obstacle in Johnson’s
path as his fight for freedom makes its way (again) through the state and
federal courts—but it undermines the newly filed Pennsylvania state appeal that
is pending in the Court of Common Pleas.

Stripped
of “legalese,” the court’s October 15, 2013 order says Johnson’s new
evidence was not brought into court soon enough—although it was the prosecution
and police who withheld evidence and coerced witnesses into lying or not coming
forward with the truth! This, despite over fifteen years and rounds of legal
battles to uncover the evidence of government misconduct. This is a set-back
for Lorenzo Johnson’s renewed fight for his freedom, but Johnson is even more
determined as his PA state court appeal continues.

Increased
public support and protest is needed. The fight for Lorenzo Johnson’s freedom
is not only a fight for this courageous man and family. The fight for Lorenzo
Johnson is also a fight for all the innocent others who have been framed and
are sitting in the slow death of prison. The PA Attorney General is directly
pursuing the charges against Lorenzo, despite the evidence of his innocence and
the corruption of the police. Free Lorenzo Johnson, Now!

—Rachel
Wolkenstein, Esq.

October 25, 2013

For
more on the federal court and PA state court legal filings.

Hear
Mumia’s latest commentary, “Cat Cries”

Go
to: www.FreeLorenzoJohnson.org for more information, to sign the petition, and
how to help.

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PUSH
CHELSEA'S JAILERS TO RESPECT HER IDENTITY

Call
and write Ft Leavenworth today and tell them to honor Manning's wishes around
her name and gender:

Call:
(913) 758-3600

Write
to:

Col.
Sioban Ledwith, Commander

U.S.
Detention Barracks

1301
N Warehouse Rd

Ft.
Leavenworth KS 66027

Private
Manning has been an icon both for the government transparency movement and
LGBTQ activists because of her fearlessness and acts of conscience. Now, as she
begins serving her sentence, Chelsea has asked for help with legal appeals,
family visits, education, and support for undergoing gender transition. The
latter is a decision she’s made following years of experiencing gender
dysphoria and examining her options. At a difficult time in her life, she
joined the military out of hope–the hope that she could use her service to save
lives, and also the hope that it would help to suppress her feelings of gender
dysphoria. But after serving time in Iraq, Private Manning realized what
mattered to her most was the truth, personal as well as political, even when it
proved challenging.

Now
she wants the Fort Leavenworth military prison to allow her access to hormone
replacement therapy which she has offered to pay for herself, as she pursues
the process to have her name legally changed to ‘Chelsea Elizabeth Manning.’

To
encourage the prison to honor her transgender identity, we’re calling on
progressive supporters and allies to contact Fort Leavenworth officials
demanding they acknowledge her requested name change immediately. Currently,
prison officials are not required to respect Chelsea’s identity, and can even
refuse to deliver mail addressed to the name ‘Chelsea Manning.’ However, it’s
within prison administrators’ power to begin using the name ‘Chelsea Manning’
now, in advance of the legal name change which will most likely be approved
sometime next year. It’s also up to these officials to approve Private
Manning’s request for hormone therapy.

Call:
(913) 758-3600

Write
to:

Col.
Sioban Ledwith, Commander

U.S.
Detention Barracks

1301
N Warehouse Rd

Ft.
Leavenworth KS 66027

Tell
them: “Transgender rights are human rights! Respect Private Manning’s identity
by acknowledging the name ‘Chelsea Manning’ whenever possible, including in
mail addressed to her, and by allowing her access to appropriate medical
treatment for gender dysphoria, including hormone replacement therapy (HRT).”

While
openly transgender individuals are allowed to serve in many other militaries
around the world, the US military continues to deny their existence. Now, by
speaking up for Chelsea’s right to treatment, you can support one brave
whistleblower in her personal struggle, and help set an important benchmark for
the rights of transgender individuals everywhere. (Remember that letters
written with focus and a respectful tone are more likely to be effective.) Feel
free to copy this sample letter.

Earlier
this year, the Private Manning Support Network won the title of most
“absolutely fabulous overall contingent” at the San Francisco Pride Parade, the
largest celebration of its kind for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender
and Questioning) people nationwide. Over one thousand people marched for
Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning in that parade, to show LGBTQ
community pride for the Iraq War’s most well-known whistleblower.

Help
us continue to cover 100%
of Pvt. Manning's legal fees! Donate today.

We
are working to ensure that the ACCJC’s authority is not renewed by the
Department of Education this December when they are up for their 5-year
renewal. Our campaign made it possible for over 50 Third Party Comments to be
sent to the DOE re: the ACCJC. Our next step in this campaign is to send a
delegation from CCSF to Washington, D.C. to give oral comments at the hearing
on December 12th. We expect to have an array of forces aligned on the other
side who have much more money and resources than we do.

So
please support this effort to get ACCJC authority revoked!

LEGAL
CAMPAIGN

Save
CCSF members have been meeting with Attorney Dan Siegel since last May to
explore legal avenues to fight the ACCJC. After much consideration, and
consultation with AFT 2121’s attorney as well as the SF City Attorney’s office,
Dan has come up with a legal strategy that is complimentary to what is already
being pursued. In fact, AFT 2121’s attorney is encouraging us to go forward.

The
total costs of pursuing this (depositions, etc.) will be substantially more
than $15,000. However, Dan is willing to do it for a fixed fee of $15,000. He
will not expect a retainer, i.e. payment in advance, but we should start
payments ASAP. If we win the ACCJC will have to pay our costs.

PLEASE
HELP BOTH OF THESE IMPORTANT EFFORTS!

Checks
can be made out to Save CCSF Coalition with “legal” in the memo line and sent
to:

16
Years in Solitary Confinement Is Like a "Living Tomb"

American
Civil Liberties Union petition to end long-term solitary confinement:

California
Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard: We stand with the prisoners on hunger
strike. We urge you to comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in
America’s Prisons 2006 recommendations regarding an end to long-term solitary
confinement.

In
California, hundreds of prisoners have been held in solitary for more than a
decade – some for infractions as trivial as reading Machiavelli's "The
Prince."

Gabriel
Reyes describes the pain of being isolated for at least 22 hours a day for the
last 16 years:

“Unless
you have lived it, you cannot imagine what it feels like to be by yourself,
between four cold walls, with little concept of time…. It is a living tomb …’ I
have not been allowed physical contact with any of my loved ones since 1995…I
feel helpless and hopeless. In short, I am being psychologically tortured.”

That’s
why over 30,000 prisoners in California began a hunger strike – the biggest the
state has ever seen. They’re refusing food to protest prisoners being held for
decades in solitary and to push for other changes to improve their basic
conditions.

California
Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard has tried to dismiss the strikers and
refuses to negotiate, but the media pressure is building through the strike. If
tens of thousands of us take action, we can help keep this issue in the
spotlight so that Secretary Beard can’t ignore the inhumane treatment of
prisoners.

Sign
the petition urging Corrections Secretary Beard to end the use of long-term
solitary confinement.

Solitary
is such an extreme form of punishment that a United Nations torture rapporteur
called for an international ban on the practice except in rare occasions.
Here’s why:

The
majority of the 80,000 people held in solitary in this country are severely
mentally ill or because of a minor infraction (it’s a myth that it’s only for
violent prisoners)

Even
for people with stable mental health, solitary causes severe psychological
reactions, often leading people to attempt suicide

It
jeopardizes public safety because prisoners held in solitary have a harder time
reintegrating into society.

And
to add insult to injury, the hunger strikers are now facing retaliation – their
lawyers are being restricted from visiting and the strikers are being punished.
But the media continues to write about the hunger strike and we can help keep
the pressure on Secretary Beard by signing this petition.

Sign
the petition urging Corrections Secretary Beard to end the use of long-term
solitary confinement.

Our
criminal justice system should keep communities safe and treat people fairly.
The use of solitary confinement undermines both of these goals – but little by
little, we can help put a stop to such cruelty.

Thank
you,

Anthony
for the ACLU Action team

P.S.
The hunger strikers have developed five core demands to address their basic
conditions, the main one being an end to long-term solitary confinement. They
are:

The
statement was read by Pfc. Bradley Manning at a providence inquiry for his
formal plea of guilty to one specification as charged and nine specifications
for lesser included offenses. He pled not guilty to 12 other specifications.
This rush transcript was taken by journalist Alexa O'Brien at Thursday's
pretrial hearing and first appeared on Salon.com.

You
Have the Right to Remain Silent: NLG Guide to Law Enforcement Encounters

Posted
1 day ago on July 27, 2012, 10:28 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

Occupy
Wall Street is a nonviolent movement for social and economic justice, but in
recent days disturbing reports have emerged of Occupy-affiliated activists
being targeted by US law enforcement, including agents from the FBI and
Department of Homeland Security. To help ensure Occupiers and allied activists
know their rights when encountering law enforcement, we are publishing in full
the National Lawyers Guild's booklet: You Have the Right to Remain Silent. The
NLG provides invaluable support to the Occupy movement and other activists –
please click here to support the NLG.

We
strongly encourage all Occupiers to read and share the information provided
below. We also recommend you enter the NLG's national hotline number
(888-654-3265) into your cellphone (if you have one) and keep a copy handy.
This information is not a substitute for legal advice. You should contact the
NLG or a criminal defense attorney immediately if you have been visited by the
FBI or other law enforcement officials. You should also alert your relatives,
friends, co-workers and others so that they will be prepared if they are
contacted as well.

You
Have the Right to Remain Silent: A Know Your Rights Guide for Law Enforcement
Encounters

What
Rights Do I Have?

Whether
or not you're a citizen, you have rights under the United States Constitution.
The Fifth Amendment gives every person the right to remain silent: not to
answer questions asked by a police officer or government agent. The Fourth
Amendment restricts the government's power to enter and search your home or
workplace, although there are many exceptions and new laws have expanded the
government's power to conduct surveillance. The First Amendment protects your
right to speak freely and to advocate for social change. However, if you are a
non-citizen, the Department of Homeland Security may target you based on your
political activities.

Standing
Up For Free Speech

The
government's crusade against politically-active individuals is intended to
disrupt and suppress the exercise of time-honored free speech activities, such
as boycotts, protests, grassroots organizing and solidarity work. Remember that
you have the right to stand up to the intimidation tactics of FBI agents and
other law enforcement officials who, with political motives, are targeting
organizing and free speech activities. Informed resistance to these tactics and
steadfast defense of your and others' rights can bring positive results. Each
person who takes a courageous stand makes future resistance to government oppression
easier for all. The National Lawyers Guild has a long tradition of standing up
to government repression. The organization itself was labeled a
"subversive" group during the McCarthy Era and was subject to FBI
surveillance and infiltration for many years. Guild attorneys have defended
FBI-targeted members of the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement,
and the Puerto Rican independence movement. The NLG exposed FBI surveillance,
infiltration and disruption tactics that were detailed during the 1975-76
COINTELPRO hearings. In 1989 the NLG prevailed in a lawsuit on behalf of
several activist organizations, including the Guild, that forced the FBI to
expose the extent to which it had been spying on activist movements. Under the
settlement, the FBI turned over roughly 400,000 pages of its files on the
Guild, which are now available at the Tamiment Library at New York University.

What
if FBI Agents or Police Contact Me?

What
if an agent or police officer comes to the door?

Do
not invite the agents or police into your home. Do not answer any questions.
Tell the agent that you do not wish to talk with him or her. You can state that
your lawyer will contact them on your behalf. You can do this by stepping
outside and pulling the door behind you so that the interior of your home or
office is not visible, getting their contact information or business cards and
then returning inside. They should cease questioning after this. If the agent
or officer gives a reason for contacting you, take notes and give the
information to your attorney. Anything you say, no matter how seemingly
harmless or insignificant, may be used against you or others in the future.
Lying to or misleading a federal agent is a crime. The more you speak, the more
opportunity for federal law enforcement to find something you said (even if not
intentionally) false and assert that you lied to a federal officer.

Do
I have to answer questions?

You
have the constitutional right to remain silent. It is not a crime to refuse to
answer questions. You do not have to talk to anyone, even if you have been
arrested or are in jail. You should affirmatively and unambiguously state that
you wish to remain silent and that you wish to consult an attorney. Once you
make the request to speak to a lawyer, do not say anything else. The Supreme
Court recently ruled that answering law enforcement questions may be taken as a
waiver of your right to remain silent, so it is important that you assert your
rights and maintain them. Only a judge can order you to answer questions. There
is one exception: some states have "stop and identify" statutes which
require you to provide identity information or your name if you have been
detained on reasonable suspicion that you may have committed a crime. A lawyer
in your state can advise you of the status of these requirements where you
reside.

Do
I have to give my name?

As
above, in some states you can be detained or arrested for merely refusing to
give your name. And in any state, police do not always follow the law, and
refusing to give your name may make them suspicious or more hostile and lead to
your arrest, even without just cause, so use your judgment. Giving a false name
could in some circumstances be a crime.

Do
I need a lawyer?

You
have the right to talk to a lawyer before you decide whether to answer
questions from law enforcement. It is a good idea to talk to a lawyer if you
are considering answering any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer
present during any interview. The lawyer's job is to protect your rights. Once
you tell the agent that you want to talk to a lawyer, he or she should stop
trying to question you and should make any further contact through your lawyer.
If you do not have a lawyer, you can still tell the officer you want to speak to
one before answering questions. Remember to get the name, agency and telephone
number of any investigator who visits you, and give that information to your
lawyer. The government does not have to provide you with a free lawyer unless
you are charged with a crime, but the NLG or another organization may be able
to help you find a lawyer for free or at a reduced rate.

If
I refuse to answer questions or say I want a lawyer, won't it seem like I have
something to hide?

Anything
you say to law enforcement can be used against you and others. You can never
tell how a seemingly harmless bit of information might be used or manipulated
to hurt you or someone else. That is why the right not to talk is a fundamental
right under the Constitution. Keep in mind that although law enforcement agents
are allowed to lie to you, lying to a government agent is a crime. Remaining
silent is not. The safest things to say are "I am going to remain
silent," "I want to speak to my lawyer," and "I do not consent
to a search." It is a common practice for law enforcement agents to try to
get you to waive your rights by telling you that if you have nothing to hide
you would talk or that talking would "just clear things up." The fact
is, if they are questioning you, they are looking to incriminate you or someone
you may know, or they are engaged in political intelligence gathering. You
should feel comfortable standing firm in protection and defense of your rights
and refusing to answer questions.

Can
agents search my home or office?

You
do not have to let police or agents into your home or office unless they have
and produce a valid search warrant. A search warrant is a written court order
that allows the police to conduct a specified search. Interfering with a
warrantless search probably will not stop it and you might get arrested. But
you should say "I do not consent to a search," and call a criminal
defense lawyer or the NLG. You should be aware that a roommate or guest can
legally consent to a search of your house if the police believe that person has
the authority to give consent, and your employer can consent to a search of
your workspace without your permission.

What
if agents have a search warrant?

If
you are present when agents come for the search, you can ask to see the
warrant. The warrant must specify in detail the places to be searched and the
people or things to be taken away. Tell the agents you do not consent to the
search so that they cannot go beyond what the warrant authorizes. Ask if you
are allowed to watch the search; if you are allowed to, you should. Take notes,
including names, badge numbers, what agency each officer is from, where they
searched and what they took. If others are present, have them act as witnesses
to watch carefully what is happening. If the agents ask you to give them
documents, your computer, or anything else, look to see if the item is listed
in the warrant. If it is not, do not consent to them taking it without talking
to a lawyer. You do not have to answer questions. Talk to a lawyer first.
(Note: If agents present an arrest warrant, they may only perform a cursory
visual search of the premises to see if the person named in the arrest warrant
is present.)

Do
I have to answer questions if I have been arrested?

No.
If you are arrested, you do not have to answer any questions. You should
affirmatively and unambiguously state that you wish to assert your right to
remain silent. Ask for a lawyer right away. Do not say anything else. Repeat to
every officer who tries to talk to or question you that you wish to remain
silent and that you wish to speak to a lawyer. You should always talk to a
lawyer before you decide to answer any questions.

What
if I speak to government agents anyway?

Even
if you have already answered some questions, you can refuse to answer other
questions until you have a lawyer. If you find yourself talking, stop. Assert
that you wish to remain silent and that you wish to speak to a lawyer.

What
if the police stop me on the street?

Ask
if you are free to go. If the answer is yes, consider just walking away. If the
police say you are not under arrest, but are not free to go, then you are being
detained. The police can pat down the outside of your clothing if they have
reason to suspect you might be armed and dangerous. If they search any more
than this, say clearly, "I do not consent to a search." They may keep
searching anyway. If this happens, do not resist because you can be charged
with assault or resisting arrest. You do not have to answer any questions. You
do not have to open bags or any closed container. Tell the officers you do not
consent to a search of your bags or other property.

What
if police or agents stop me in my car?

Keep
your hands where the police can see them. If you are driving a vehicle, you
must show your license, registration and, in some states, proof of insurance.
You do not have to consent to a search. But the police may have legal grounds
to search your car anyway. Clearly state that you do not consent. Officers may
separate passengers and drivers from each other to question them, but no one
has to answer any questions.

What
if I am treated badly by the police or the FBI?

Write
down the officer's badge number, name or other identifying information. You
have a right to ask the officer for this information. Try to find witnesses and
their names and phone numbers. If you are injured, seek medical attention and
take pictures of the injuries as soon as you can. Call a lawyer as soon as
possible.

What
if the police or FBI threaten me with a grand jury subpoena if I don't answer
their questions?

A
grand jury subpoena is a written order for you to go to court and testify about
information you may have. It is common for the FBI to threaten you with a
subpoena to get you to talk to them. If they are going to subpoena you, they
will do so anyway. You should not volunteer to speak just because you are
threatened with a subpoena. You should consult a lawyer.

What
if I receive a grand jury subpoena?

Grand
jury proceedings are not the same as testifying at an open court trial. You are
not allowed to have a lawyer present (although one may wait in the hallway and
you may ask to consult with him or her after each question) and you may be asked
to answer questions about your activities and associations. Because of the
witness's limited rights in this situation, the government has frequently used
grand jury subpoenas to gather information about activists and political
organizations. It is common for the FBI to threaten activists with a subpoena
in order to elicit information about their political views and activities and
those of their associates. There are legal grounds for stopping
("quashing") subpoenas, and receiving one does not necessarily mean
that you are suspected of a crime. If you do receive a subpoena, call the NLG
National Hotline at 888-NLG-ECOL (888-654-3265) or call a criminal defense
attorney immediately.

The
government regularly uses grand jury subpoena power to investigate and seek
evidence related to politically-active individuals and social movements. This
practice is aimed at prosecuting activists and, through intimidation and
disruption, discouraging continued activism.

Federal
grand jury subpoenas are served in person. If you receive one, it is critically
important that you retain the services of an attorney, preferably one who
understands your goals and, if applicable, understands the nature of your
political work, and has experience with these issues. Most lawyers are trained
to provide the best legal defense for their client, often at the expense of
others. Beware lawyers who summarily advise you to cooperate with grand juries,
testify against friends, or cut off contact with your friends and political
activists. Cooperation usually leads to others being subpoenaed and
investigated. You also run the risk of being charged with perjury, a felony,
should you omit any pertinent information or should there be inconsistencies in
your testimony.

Frequently
prosecutors will offer "use immunity," meaning that the prosecutor is
prohibited from using your testimony or any leads from it to bring charges
against you. If a subsequent prosecution is brought, the prosecutor bears the
burden of proving that all of its evidence was obtained independent of the
immunized testimony. You should be aware, however, that they will use anything
you say to manipulate associates into sharing more information about you by
suggesting that you have betrayed confidences.

In
front of a grand jury you can "take the Fifth" (exercise your right
to remain silent). However, the prosecutor may impose immunity on you, which
strips you of Fifth Amendment protection and subjects you to the possibility of
being cited for contempt and jailed if you refuse to answer further. In front
of a grand jury you have no Sixth Amendment right to counsel, although you can
consult with a lawyer outside the grand jury room after each question.

What
if I don't cooperate with the grand jury?

If
you receive a grand jury subpoena and elect to not cooperate, you may be held
in civil contempt. There is a chance that you may be jailed or imprisoned for
the length of the grand jury in an effort to coerce you to cooperate. Regular
grand juries sit for a basic term of 18 months, which can be extended up to a
total of 24 months. It is lawful to hold you in order to coerce your
cooperation, but unlawful to hold you as a means of punishment. In rare
instances you may face criminal contempt charges.

What
If I Am Not a Citizen and the DHS Contacts Me?

The
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is now part of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) and has been renamed and reorganized into: 1. The
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS); 2. The Bureau of Customs
and Border Protection (CBP); and 3. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE). All three bureaus will be referred to as DHS for the
purposes of this pamphlet.

?
Assert your rights. If you do not demand your rights or if you sign papers
waiving your rights, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may deport you
before you see a lawyer or an immigration judge. Never sign anything without
reading, understanding and knowing the consequences of signing it.

?
Talk to a lawyer. If possible, carry with you the name and telephone number of
an immigration lawyer who will take your calls. The immigration laws are hard
to understand and there have been many recent changes. DHS will not explain
your options to you. As soon as you encounter a DHS agent, call your attorney.
If you can't do it right away, keep trying. Always talk to an immigration
lawyer before leaving the U.S. Even some legal permanent residents can be
barred from returning.

Based
on today's laws, regulations and DHS guidelines, non-citizens usually have the
following rights, no matter what their immigration status. This information may
change, so it is important to contact a lawyer. The following rights apply to
non-citizens who are inside the U.S. Non-citizens at the border who are trying
to enter the U.S. do not have all the same rights.

Do
I have the right to talk to a lawyer before answering any DHS questions or
signing any DHS papers?

Yes.
You have the right to call a lawyer or your family if you are detained, and you
have the right to be visited by a lawyer in detention. You have the right to
have your attorney with you at any hearing before an immigration judge. You do
not have the right to a government-appointed attorney for immigration
proceedings, but if you have been arrested, immigration officials must show you
a list of free or low cost legal service providers.

Should
I carry my green card or other immigration papers with me?

If
you have documents authorizing you to stay in the U.S., you must carry them
with you. Presenting false or expired papers to DHS may lead to deportation or
criminal prosecution. An unexpired green card, I-94, Employment Authorization
Card, Border Crossing Card or other papers that prove you are in legal status
will satisfy this requirement. If you do not carry these papers with you, you
could be charged with a crime. Always keep a copy of your immigration papers
with a trusted family member or friend who can fax them to you, if need be.
Check with your immigration lawyer about your specific case.

Am
I required to talk to government officers about my immigration history?

If
you are undocumented, out of status, a legal permanent resident (green card
holder), or a citizen, you do not have to answer any questions about your
immigration history. (You may want to consider giving your name; see above for
more information about this.) If you are not in any of these categories, and
you are being questioned by a DHS or FBI agent, then you may create problems
with your immigration status if you refuse to provide information requested by
the agent. If you have a lawyer, you can tell the agent that your lawyer will
answer questions on your behalf. If answering questions could lead the agent to
information that connects you with criminal activity, you should consider
refusing to talk to the agent at all.

If
I am arrested for immigration violations, do I have the right to a hearing
before an immigration judge to defend myself against deportation charges?

Yes.
In most cases only an immigration judge can order you deported. But if you
waive your rights or take "voluntary departure," agreeing to leave
the country, you could be deported without a hearing. If you have criminal
convictions, were arrested at the border, came to the U.S. through the visa
waiver program or have been ordered deported in the past, you could be deported
without a hearing. Contact a lawyer immediately to see if there is any relief
for you.

Can
I call my consulate if I am arrested?

Yes.
Non-citizens arrested in the U.S. have the right to call their consulate or to
have the police tell the consulate of your arrest. The police must let your
consulate visit or speak with you if consular officials decide to do so. Your
consulate might help you find a lawyer or offer other help. You also have the
right to refuse help from your consulate.

What
happens if I give up my right to a hearing or leave the U.S. before the hearing
is over?

You
could lose your eligibility for certain immigration benefits, and you could be
barred from returning to the U.S. for a number of years. You should always talk
to an immigration lawyer before you decide to give up your right to a hearing.

What
should I do if I want to contact DHS?

Always
talk to a lawyer before contacting DHS, even on the phone. Many DHS officers
view "enforcement" as their primary job and will not explain all of
your options to you.

What
Are My Rights at Airports?

IMPORTANT
NOTE: It is illegal for law enforcement to perform any stops, searches,
detentions or removals based solely on your race, national origin, religion,
sex or ethnicity.

If
I am entering the U.S. with valid travel papers can a U.S. customs agent stop
and search me?

Yes.
Customs agents have the right to stop, detain and search every person and item.

Can
my bags or I be searched after going through metal detectors with no problem or
after security sees that my bags do not contain a weapon?

Yes.
Even if the initial screen of your bags reveals nothing suspicious, the
screeners have the authority to conduct a further search of you or your bags.

If
I am on an airplane, can an airline employee interrogate me or ask me to get
off the plane?

The
pilot of an airplane has the right to refuse to fly a passenger if he or she
believes the passenger is a threat to the safety of the flight. The pilot's decision
must be reasonable and based on observations of you, not stereotypes.

What
If I Am Under 18?

Do
I have to answer questions?

No.
Minors too have the right to remain silent. You cannot be arrested for refusing
to talk to the police, probation officers, or school officials, except in some
states you may have to give your name if you have been detained.

What
if I am detained?

If
you are detained at a community detention facility or Juvenile Hall, you
normally must be released to a parent or guardian. If charges are filed against
you, in most states you are entitled to counsel (just like an adult) at no
cost.

Do
I have the right to express political views at school?

Public
school students generally have a First Amendment right to politically organize
at school by passing out leaflets, holding meetings, etc., as long as those
activities are not disruptive and do not violate legitimate school rules. You
may not be singled out based on your politics, ethnicity or religion.

Can
my backpack or locker be searched?

School
officials can search students' backpacks and lockers without a warrant if they
reasonably suspect that you are involved in criminal activity or carrying drugs
or weapons. Do not consent to the police or school officials searching your property,
but do not physically resist or you may face criminal charges.

Disclaimer

This
booklet is not a substitute for legal advice. You should contact an attorney if
you have been visited by the FBI or other law enforcement officials. You should
also alert your relatives, friends, co-workers and others so that they will be
prepared if they are contacted as well.

The
following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's

work
since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown

on
Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l

Al-Awda
Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected

over
the past nine years.

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl

Support
Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!

Al-Awda,
The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial

support
to carry out its work.

To
submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to

http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html

and
follow the simple instructions.

Thank
you for your generosity!

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D.
VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:

[Some
of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:

http://bauaw.blogspot.com/
or bauaw.org ...bw]

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Checkpoint - Jasiri X

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq6Y6LSjulU

Published on Jan 28, 2014

"Checkpoint" is based on the
oppression and discrimination Jasiri X witnessed firsthand during his
recent trip to Palestine and Israel "Checkpoint" is produced by Agent of
Change, and directed by Haute Muslim. Download "Checkpoint" at https://jasirix.bandcamp.com/track/ch....

LYRICS
Journal of the hard times tales from the dark side
Evidence of the settlements on my hard drive
Man I swear my heart died at the end of that car ride
When I saw that checkpoint welcome to apartheid
Soldiers wear military green at the checkpoint
Automatic guns that's machine at the checkpoint
Tavors not m16s at the checkpoint
Fingers on the trigger you'll get leaned at the checkpoint
Little children grown adults or teens at the checkpoint
All ya papers better be clean at the checkpoint
You gotta but your finger on the screen at the checkpoint
And pray that red light turns green at the check point

If Martin Luther King had a dream of the checkpoint
He wake with loud screams from the scenes at the checkpoint
It's Malcolm X by any means at the check point
Imagine if you daily routine was the checkpoint

Separation walls that's surrounding the checkpoint
On top is barbwire like a crown on the checkpoint
Better have ya permits if your found at the checkpoint
Gunmen on the tower aiming down at the checkpoint
The idea is to keep you in fear of the checkpoint
You enter through the cage in the rear of the checkpoint
It feels like prison on a tier at the check point
I'd rather be anywhere but here at this checkpoint
Nelson Mandela wasn't blind to the check point
He stood for free Palestine not a check point
Support BDS don't give a dime to the checkpoint
This is international crime at the checkpoint
Arabs get treated like dogs at the checkpoint
Cause discrimination is the law at the checkpoint
Criminalized without a cause at the checkpoint
I'm just telling you what I saw at the checkpoint
Soldiers got bad attitudes at the checkpoint
Condescending and real rude at the checkpoint
Don't look em in they eyes when they move at the checkpoint
They might strip a man or woman nude at the checkpoint
Soldiers might blow you out of ya shoes at the checkpoint
Gas you up and then light the fuse at the checkpoint
Everyday you stand to be accused at the checkpoint
Each time your life you could lose at the checkpoint

If Martin Luther King had a dream of the checkpoint
He wake with loud screams from the scenes at the checkpoint
It's Malcolm X by any means at the check point
Imagine if you daily routine was the checkpoint

At the airport in Tel Aviv is a checkpoint
They pulled over our taxi at the checkpoint
Passport visa ID at the checkpoint
Soldiers going all through my things at the checkpoint
Said I was high risk security at the checkpoint
Because of the oppression I see at the checkpoint
Occupation in the 3rd degree at the checkpoint
All a nigga wanna do is leave fuck a checkpoint

On
Gun Control, Martin Luther King, the Deacons of Defense and the history of
Black Liberation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzYKisvBN1o&feature=player_embedded

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

Fukushima
Never Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU-Z4VLDGxU

"Fukushima,
Never Again" tells the story of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns in
north east Japan in March of 2011 and exposes the cover-up by Tepco and the
Japanese government.

This
is the first film that interviews the Mothers Of Fukushima, nuclear power
experts and trade unionists who are fighting for justice and the protection of
the children and the people of Japan and the world. The residents and citizens
were forced to buy their own geiger counters and radiation dosimeters in order
to test their communities to find out if they were in danger.

The
government said contaminated soil in children's school grounds was safe and
then

when
the people found out it was contaminated and removed the top soil, the
government and TEPCO refused to remove it from the school grounds.

It
also relays how the nuclear energy program for "peaceful atoms" was brought
to Japan under the auspices of the US military occupation and also the criminal
cover-up of the safety dangers of the plant by TEPCO and GE management which
built the plant in Fukushima. It also interviews Kei Sugaoka, the GE nulcear
plant inspector from the bay area who exposed cover-ups in the safety at the
Fukushima plant and was retaliated against by GE. This documentary allows the
voices of the people and workers to speak out about the reality of the disaster
and what this means not only for the people of Japan but the people of the
world as the US government and nuclear industry continue to push for more new
plants and government subsidies. This film breaks

the
information blockade story line of the corporate media in Japan, the US and
around the world that Fukushima is over.

Production
Of Labor Video Project

P.O.
Box 720027

San
Francisco, CA 94172

www.laborvideo.org

lvpsf@laborvideo.org

For
information on obtaining the video go to:

www.fukushimaneveragain.com

(415)282-1908

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

1000
year of war through the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiG8neU4_bs&feature=share

*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

Anatomy
of a Massacre - Afganistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6BnRc11aug&feature=player_embedded

Afghans
accuse multiple soldiers of pre-meditated murder

To
see more go to http://www.youtube.com/user/journeymanpictures

Follow
us on Facebook (http://goo.gl/YRw42) or Twitter

(http://www.twitter.com/journeymanvod)

The
recent massacre of 17 civilians by a rogue US soldier has been shrouded in

mystery.
But through unprecedented access to those involved, this report

confronts
the accusations that Bales didn't act alone.

"They
came into my room and they killed my family". Stories like this are common

amongst
the survivors in Aklozai and Najiban. As are the shocking accusations

that
Sergeant Bales was not acting alone. Even President Karzai has announced

"one
man can not do that". Chief investigator, General Karimi, is suspicious

that
despite being fully armed, Bales freely left his base without raising

alarm.
"How come he leaves at night and nobody is aware? Every time we have

weapon
accountability and personal accountability." These are just a few of the

questions
the American army and government are yet to answer. One thing however

is
very clear, the massacre has unleashed a wave of grief and outrage which

means
relations in Kandahar will be tense for years to come: "If I could lay my

hands
on those infidels, I would rip them apart with my bare hands."

A
Film By SBS

Distributed
By Journeyman Pictures

April
2012

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Photo
of George Zimmerman, in 2005 photo, left, and in a more recent photo.